Utility Shut-Offs and a Sale

You can sell a house with the water, power or gas shut off, but the shut-off decides who can buy it. A cash buyer can walk the house as it is and price what could not be tested. A financed buyer's inspector usually needs the utilities on to run the plumbing, electrical and heating, and the lender's appraiser may need them on too. Turning service back on is the owner's job, and it takes an account in the right name, a settled balance and systems that are safe to switch on.

This guide covers why utilities end up off on an empty house, what restoring water takes in the City of San Bernardino under its water department's own rules, what a buyer needs on at each stage of a sale, and how the shut-off shows up in the two numbers. It describes the published rules; it is not legal advice.

Why the utilities are off

The reason matters, because each one has a different fix.

• The account was closed. An heir or a family member stopped service after a death or a move into care, often to stop the bills.
• Nonpayment. Bills went to an address nobody was reading, and service was discontinued.
• The utility found the house vacated. San Bernardino's water department lists vacating the premises without notifying it among the reasons it may discontinue service.
• Safety. The water was shut at the main after a leak or a theft, or a utility locked or pulled a meter. After copper theft, nothing should be turned back on until a licensed plumber and electrician have looked; see copper theft and break-ins at vacant houses.
• The owner shut it off on purpose. Shutting the water at the main is a common step for an empty house, and some insurers ask about it; insuring a vacant house lists the questions for the agent.

Water in the City of San Bernardino: what the rules say

The City of San Bernardino Municipal Water Department publishes numbered rules and regulations. Three points from them matter most to an owner selling an empty house.

Who can open the account

Under Rule 8, each prospective customer, or an authorized agent, applies for service. The application asks for the applicant's relationship to the service address, such as owner, tenant or property manager, and the department may require documentation, with title documentation, a quitclaim deed, a letter of authorization or a property management agreement among its examples. For an estate or a trust, that means the person opening the account should have the paperwork showing their authority. Once the department accepts the application, the customer of record is responsible for the charges from the requested service date or the date of possession, whichever is earlier.

When service is cut off, and how notices reach the house

Rule 10 lists the reasons the department may discontinue service, including nonpayment of past-due bills, reasonable access denied to the department, unsafe or illegal apparatus, vacating the premises without notification, and violation of law or code. For nonpayment, the department mails a disconnection notice in advance, tries to reach the customer by phone if the notice comes back, and posts written notice on the property if it cannot reach anyone.

State law sets a floor for water systems it covers. Health and Safety Code section 116908 bars a covered water system from discontinuing residential service for nonpayment until the bill has been delinquent for at least 60 days, and requires notice first. When the account's mailing address differs from the service address, a copy of the notice goes to the house itself, addressed to "Occupant." On a vacant house that copy lands where nobody is reading it, and an absentee owner may never see it. Code notices mailed to a distant owner covers the same problem with city notices.

Getting it back on

The department's delinquency page says service is restored only after payment of the past-due bill, a service charge and a security deposit, and Rule 10 adds any delinquency charges and the cost of damage if the shut-off was tampered with. A customer of record stays responsible for the account until they ask the department to discontinue it; Rule 8 says a request by phone or in person is given a confirmation number, which is worth keeping until the sale closes.

For electricity and gas, call the utility named on the last bill. Their own steps for restoring service to a house that has been off for a while, including any appointment to relight gas appliances, should come from them. If wiring or a meter was damaged, ask the city's building department whether an inspection is needed before the utility will reconnect.

What a buyer needs on, and when

StageWhat needs to be onIf it is off

Cash buyer's walkthrough

Nothing required; power helps with lighting

The walkthrough notes what could not be tested, and the offer prices it

Financed buyer's inspection

Water, power and gas, so fixtures, panel, water heater and furnace can be run

The report lists systems not tested; the buyer may ask for a re-inspection, a credit or more time

Lender's appraisal

Depends on the loan program and the lender

Ask the buyer's lender early; an appraisal can come back subject to a further inspection

Final walkthrough before closing

Whatever the contract says the buyer can check

A dispute at the last step, unless the contract addressed it

Write it into the contract. If you are selling with utilities off, the purchase agreement should say which utilities the seller will have on, and for which inspections, or that the buyer accepts the house with them off. A vague answer here invites a dispute at the end of escrow.

The code side of a dry, dark house

California's State Housing Law, in Health and Safety Code section 17920.3, lists a lack of hot and cold running water to the plumbing fixtures of a dwelling unit, a lack of adequate heating and a lack of required electrical lighting among the conditions that make a building substandard when they reach the point of endangering occupants or the public. How that applies to an empty house nobody is living in is a question for the city, but it becomes live the moment someone moves in, a tenant or an unauthorized occupant. If a city has already cited the house, code enforcement notices: what they mean reads the notice.

How a shut-off shows up in the two numbers

Every house we walk gets two written numbers: an as-is cash offer and an open-market read, each with the comparable sales, the deductions and the net. The open-market read is a preliminary estimate, not an appraisal.

LineAs-is cash offerOpen-market read

Systems not tested

Noted on the walkthrough and priced

Restored and tested before the buyer's inspection

Past-due balances, deposits and restoration charges

-

Paid by you to restore service

Repairs found once service is on

Carried by the buyer after closing

Your cost, or a credit in escrow

Monthly utility and holding cost

Stops at closing

Runs through restoration and the listing

Net to you

-

-

Listing usually nets more when the utilities are off only because an account was closed, the balances are small or settled, the plumbing and wiring are intact, and the house will pass a financed buyer's inspection once everything is running. In that case, restoring service is a short administrative job, and the house competes with its neighbors. When that net is higher, the written recommendation says so and you are introduced to a designated local expert, an independently licensed California agent. Selling as it stands makes more sense when the shut-off is hiding something: a cut line, a stripped panel, a leak, a failed water heater. The monthly holding-cost worksheet is in the guide to selling a vacant or cited house.

At closing

Ask each utility for a final reading on the closing date and close or transfer the accounts then, not before, so the house can be shown and inspected up to the end. Keep the confirmation numbers. Escrow handles the property's taxes and recorded charges; a utility balance in your name is between you and the utility, so ask escrow whether it can be paid from the proceeds.

What this looks like in practice

These are the kinds of files that come in, described without names or figures.

• A San Bernardino house where an heir closed the water and power accounts after a parent died, and the family needed to know whether reopening them was worth it.
• An Ontario house owned by someone in Nevada, with the utilities shut off; the Ontario page covers that city's other rules.
• A house with the water off at the main after a leak, where nobody knew whether the line had been repaired.

Owners managing this from far away can arrange keys and access with the help of keys, lockboxes and access from another state.

The rest of this series is in vacant houses and code violations, and the county's recording and other rules are on the San Bernardino County page. To see the house priced with the utilities off and on, send the address and what you know about each service through the vacant house and code violation page, or call (909) 498-3977. There is no cost and no obligation to get the two numbers and the written report.

Sources

• City of San Bernardino Municipal Water Department, Rule and Regulation No. 8, Application for Service, Credit, and Deposit: sbmwd.org, accessed November 6, 2026
• City of San Bernardino Municipal Water Department, Rule and Regulation No. 10, Acquisition, Discontinuance and Restoration of Service: sbmwd.org, accessed November 6, 2026
• City of San Bernardino Municipal Water Department, Delinquency Process: sbmwd.org, accessed November 6, 2026
• California Health and Safety Code section 116908 (discontinuation of residential water service for nonpayment), copy read on california.public.law, accessed November 6, 2026
• California Health and Safety Code section 17920.3 (substandard buildings), copy read on california.public.law, accessed November 6, 2026

Mr. Cali Offers is not a law firm and does not speak for any utility; confirm service rules with the utility and legal questions with your own attorney. Cash offers come from independent buyers and investors who buy for their own account and may resell for profit; a cash offer is generally below what the open market would bring. Any value shown is a preliminary estimate, not an appraisal. Nothing here is legal, tax or financial advice.