I agree. When a house is vacant, we always tell them the utilities MUST be on to do a full inspection. When they are NOT, we look to the buyers agent to get things going.

They will usually contact the listing agent and ask them if it is OK to turn on the water. I then go thru the house and make sure all the faucets are off (including laundry and hose bibs) then give it a try.

We may still have a leak, but I'm not the one that took responsibility for it.

There have been many time the listing agent has to send someone out to winterize the house again when I'm done. But, that's not MY problem.

If the buyer's agent isn't there, I try to call the listing agent. If I don't get permission, I don't turn it on.
JF