Wednesday, 23 March 2011
Monday, 21 March 2011
Utility nightmares
So converting a Commercial property is not just about getting bathrooms installed and coming up with floor plans... it turns out converting utilities are a complete nightmare. So almost one month on, here's the utilities update!
Council tax - after at least 5 emails and 5 phone calls we've finally managed to work out how to stop being sent non-domestic business rates, which incidentally would have been £400 a month... but getting a Council tax band can only be achieved once the building work is finished and we can submit finished plans to the Council and Valuation office (apparently not connected to the Council) - from this point it can take up to 6 months... fine, no council tax for up to 10 months... except we need the council tax to prove that its residential...
Gas - E ON - Amazingly no-one at E ON's call centre had ever heard of someone moving into a house registered in their systems as a business... so from the residential call centre, I got directed to the business line, who couldn't help as I was residential... so I phoned the residential number again.... who diverted me to sales... who knew nothing about anything... eventually someone phoned me back and told me the only way I can switch to a residential bill and therefore pay no VAT is to send off the council tax bill as proof of the switch - but obviously that's up to 10 months away (see above!)....
Electricity - EDF - getting through to EDF has been the first problem, I've left voicemails, emails and finally got a response today.... fingers crossed.
I thought I'd come up with a brilliant plan when I thought I'd just try a third company and switch both gas and electricity across... but nope, you need to have both existing deals on a residential tariff first...
Water - Thames Water - amazingly the only company so far who understood the issues and sent out a new residential welcome pack... of course they sent it to the wrong address (the new house - with a nailed shut letter box!), but in theory we have water!
Council tax - after at least 5 emails and 5 phone calls we've finally managed to work out how to stop being sent non-domestic business rates, which incidentally would have been £400 a month... but getting a Council tax band can only be achieved once the building work is finished and we can submit finished plans to the Council and Valuation office (apparently not connected to the Council) - from this point it can take up to 6 months... fine, no council tax for up to 10 months... except we need the council tax to prove that its residential...
Gas - E ON - Amazingly no-one at E ON's call centre had ever heard of someone moving into a house registered in their systems as a business... so from the residential call centre, I got directed to the business line, who couldn't help as I was residential... so I phoned the residential number again.... who diverted me to sales... who knew nothing about anything... eventually someone phoned me back and told me the only way I can switch to a residential bill and therefore pay no VAT is to send off the council tax bill as proof of the switch - but obviously that's up to 10 months away (see above!)....
Electricity - EDF - getting through to EDF has been the first problem, I've left voicemails, emails and finally got a response today.... fingers crossed.
I thought I'd come up with a brilliant plan when I thought I'd just try a third company and switch both gas and electricity across... but nope, you need to have both existing deals on a residential tariff first...
Water - Thames Water - amazingly the only company so far who understood the issues and sent out a new residential welcome pack... of course they sent it to the wrong address (the new house - with a nailed shut letter box!), but in theory we have water!
Building works start tomorrow
Having signed the contract with the builder last week and paid the deposit, work is due to start in the morning, with the erection of scaffolding!
Stage 1 - Roof removal and renewal
Total build still scheduled for three months!
Stage 1 - Roof removal and renewal
Total build still scheduled for three months!
Saturday, 19 March 2011
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