Converted flats - what about the utilities?

[Soled73]

Hi,

I'm in the process of converting a victorian terraced property in to 4 self contained flats.

The electrician is installing 5 meters, one for each flat and one for the comunal area covering the lighting of the stairs etc.

Regarding the others utilities, do I need to pay for the seperation of the gas and water?

At the moment the builder has connected everything to the single supply and all is working well. But I'm not sure if there is a legal issue to have them seperated. Or are there any other issues I need to consider?

If I do need to seperate them does anyone have an idea of costs?

I apprechiate any views on this.

[Editor]

I think you will find with gas the meters will have to be fitted at the point where the pipe (pipes) enter the building and you may need three new runs back to the gas main.
Again with water you will need three new pipe runs back to the main. In practice, particularly if there are no meters, you may get away with connecting all the units to the one water supply pipe, otherwise you will be into a considerable expense with infrastructure charges.
Good luck as my experience of dealing with the utility companies on these issues is like trying to "plat fog".

[jeffrey]

Soled3: are you retaining or selling (by long lease) the flats? If the latter, ensure all necessary easements are granted/reserved.

[arusha]

Jeffrey, what is an easement?

[jeffrey]

Jeffrey, what is an easement?

A private right of way or access or for services, benefitting one property and running through/over/under another property: in your case, the right for gas pipes etc. unless the Gas/Electric/Water Undertakings already have statutory rights.

[Soled73]

jeffrey

To answer your question I plan to keep all four flats.

Three of the flats are accessed from the original front door, and the fourth from a seperate entrance at the side.

Do I take it that from your reply there is not legal issue with keeping the utilities from the same single supply.

Does anyone know if there would be any performace issues with adopting this approach (i.e poor water pressure etc).

.... or is all this a false economy?

[jeffrey]

Best to direct supply questions to suppliers, I suspect.