This past week I heard for the first time that getting water turned on at a home has taken a twist in Gwinnett County. I can only imagine that this is due to the number of vacant foreclosure and short sale properties in Gwinnett County that have left the county with unpaid water bills. Let me describe to you what I found out this past week.
In order for a buyer in Gwinnett County to get water turned on the county wants to see a copy of the HUD-1 Settlement Statement from the closing. That would make sense for the county but with one large exception. Most buyers want to have a home inspection prior to closing on the property and having the water on constitutes a big portion of the inspection. After all wouldn’t it be nice for the buyer to know if there are plumbing leaks in a home prior to purchasing it? When I posed the inspection question to the county I was informed of an option. The listing agent needs to provide the buyer’s agent with a copy of the listing agreement signed by the seller and the listing agent. The buyer then takes this copy to the Gwinnett County Water Department and with a payment of $100.00 the water will be turned on for 2 weeks in order for the buyer to get the home inspection performed. After the 2 week period is over the water will be turned off and in order for the buyer to get it permanently put into the buyer’s name a copy of the settlement statement must be presented to the water department. I did question the water department as to whether the $100.00 fee would be credited towards the buyer’s account and was informed that it would not. This is just a fee to get the water turned on for an inspection. A word of caution, if you want the water turned on the day of closing then you will need to have the settlement statement to the water department before 2:00PM.
Policy for getting the water account transferred into a buyer’s name when it has not been disconnected remains the same as far as I know. All the buyer needs to do is notify the Gwinnett County Water Department of the date to transfer the account and the county will be happy to accommodate.
Gwinnett County Water Department can be reached at 678-376-6800.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
This has been going on in City of Atlanta and Dekalb County for a while now with regards to faxing the HUD in with the water application. As a service to our clients we do that at the closing so it is there whenever the buyer wants to call after closing.
The $100 fee for 2 weeks is kinda rough though.
We received a piece of mail today which had a heading of “State of Georgia, Gwinnett County, City of Duluth”. What it was about LOOKS like a fee for maintaining the water line to the house. What it IS is an offer for an insurance policy to cover a leak or damage to the home water service, after the meter. The “formal” look of the offer makes it look like it is a FEE … which we need to pay. WE know it isn’t, but how many others will think it is and send the money … $4.99 / month or $14.97 / quarter or $59.88 / year? It just seems that the packaging might add up to a “SCAM”. I have scanned the two sheets and the envelope into PDF files if you would like to view them. The company logo says, “Home Service, Protecting homeowners in Georgia” and the envelope says “HOME SERVICE PROCESSING CENTER, PO BOX 522921, MIAMI, FL 33152-9956″
We ;Look forward to hearing your input on this matter. Thank you. Jackie Barnett
Jackie, Thanks so much for your post and making other citizens of Gwinnett County aware of this. Like you, I think this is a scam and the more people who know about it the better. I guess you get the good citizen award for January!!!