Should I be worried that there is a major issue with the gas leak

[Ada Li]

Hi Biggerpockets community! Happy Holidays!

I am a first time home buyer and am currently conducting inspections for the property but found that the property has a gas leak. 

Question: Should I be worried that there is a major issue with the gas leak? What other checks would you conduct as a buyer?

====

Right now (according to the seller), the gas lines to the range / stove  for 1st fl and 2nd fl are turned off because

1. 1st fl stove/range needs to be replaced
2. 2nd fl - There's a leak on fuel line somewhere between isolator valve in basement and 2nd range

==== 

Why do I think there might be a major issue 

1. Reason 1 - Seller said tenants moved out in November b/c there was a gas leak. Instead of fixing this, it seems like they decided to sell the place in December. The reason seller gave my agent for selling the place is because they're moving.

2. Reason 2 - It seems like they had the property serviced, but didn’t fix the gas leak issue.

Background for reason 2—Gas company went to property on 12/21 and left 1 note saying ‘range leaking gas’ and another note saying ‘heater needs service’ (guessing 1 note for 1st FL and 1 note for 2nd FL). Seller told me to reschedule the 2nd part of the inspection from 12/22 to 12/23 so he could use 12/22 to service the place. On 12/23, it looks like the slab of tar outside of the home is fresh which means someone was working on something (this slab leads to the basement and is likely related to the gas lines). We had part 1 of the inspection on 12/12 and this slab of tar looked somewhat new during that time as well (which leads me to believe someone worked on something below this slab of tar twice within a short time frame).

As a seller, I wouldn’t even bother to fix the leak in the gas line, so why is there fresh tar? The only reason I can think of is if someone opened that area, saw that the issue was a bigger issue and then decided to let the buyer deal with it. The only other reason I can think of why there’s fresh tar is if they needed to go down that spot to fix the heater, but that doesn’t make sense as to why you would need to go underground to fix the heater.

Any advice on what you would do?