Help Needed - bank won’t turn power on during inspection period

[Connor McGinnis]

Help!

I have a duplex under contract and we are in the inspection period now. The inspection period ends in a week and we already had an inspector come out to perform an inspection on both units.

This is a foreclosed property that is bank owned and they are refusing to turn on the power for one of the units as they insist that it is an as is condition of sale. We wanted to get an inspection done quickly so we already had an inspector come out with only one unit having the power on. The other unit had the water on but not power.

The bank has been extremely difficult to work with up to this point. I have an investor that is helping me finance the deal in all cash so the investor will be my bank.

The property was built in 2018 and the other unit with power had no major issues and all HVAC’s, water heaters, electrical, etc all work fine. However, it doesn’t sit right to close on this property without having power on in one of the units.

Is there any way that I can call the energy company that is local and have them turn the power on for the day or any way that I can force the bank to turn the power on? I hate to walk away at this point as my apartment lease ends in a month but I also hate to get screwed.

Any help is much appreciated!

[Bill B.]

Last time I dealt with this I simply had the utilities turned on in my name. Bring the accepted contract with you, run the inspection and then turn them back off. This is all assuming the property isn’t winterized. If it is there’s almost no chance of getting them turned on unless you add an addendum agreeing to pay all costs and submitting the funds in advance. 

Is there a certain part of the property you’re worried about? Remember, everyone else’ is either not bidding or bidding less because of this situation, this is a plus to you, not a negative.