Neighbours want to dig up our drive
Comments
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getmore4less wrote: »is there no option that would allow the cable to your house to stay over head or routed underground and up a(their) wall and across to your existing house entry point?
Would you be interested in taking this opportunity to have the meter moved?
They are saying there aren’t any options but I will go back to them and get a response in writing about that.
I would be happy to have the meter moved if it meant not digging the driveway up but I think that would be more expensive for them.0 -
It's a great shame that some neighbours think they can do as they please and try to lay blame at your door for their unreasonable 'unneighbourly' behaviour.
Definitely get details in writing - and, once you have details, consider carefully, don't be afraid to tell them if they haven't specified everything you want to see in the details, don't accept their vagueness, do ask them to amend/ rewrite the details until you're happy. It's difficult, stressful, time consuming ...
Don't be pressured or rushed into agreeing until you're happy, regardless of how bad they try to make you feel about 'delaying their plans' - it's not all about them, they should have some duty of care to you - this is upheaval and potentially disastrous for you, your family, your home.
Does your home insurance provider give advice on this situation?
If they didn't agree the date with you, that's not your fault.
And remember, even when they've put it in writing, you can say no, you've changed your mind, you're not happy, you don't agree...
Good luck - I hope all goes well for you.0 -
jungle_jane wrote: »The whole thing was a gigantic pain as they were hard to get hold of, were vague in their descriptions of exactly what would be done and wouldn't put anything in writing.
I would strongly recommend you get everything in writing - dates, times and extent of inconvenience. In our case the people who come to dig up and lay the cables are not the same people who then fill the hole so these are on different days. Then we had to get another british gas engineer out as they messed up the meters. I'm still fuming about the whole thing - it was weeks of stress and disruption.
This sounds exactly like what I’m dealing with, the guy is hard to get hold of and won’t give straight answers and is only offering to put the 2 year guarantee in writing.
I have a feeling we’ll end up having the same issues and it will be us having to sort it all out as the neighbour will just be happy her extension is being done, she won’t be worried about the state of our drive....0 -
The expense to them is not for you to worry about - is that why they're trying to get you to agree to having your drive dug up, to reduce their costs?0
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moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »Absolutely.
The Access to Neighbouring Properties Act (which I expect is what is at the back of their minds) is for "necessary maintenance" and not for "improvement".
What they are doing is "improvement". Bat the ball back to them and refuse.
Thank you for that, I did think this would be the case but by all accounts NP tend to do whatever they want!0 -
This sounds exactly like what I’m dealing with, the guy is hard to get hold of and won’t give straight answers and is only offering to put the 2 year guarantee in writing.
I have a feeling we’ll end up having the same issues and it will be us having to sort it all out as the neighbour will just be happy her extension is being done, she won’t be worried about the state of our drive....
Just take a moment and read what you have been writing. NP are not providing straightforward answers to your questions, are hard to get hold of and you feel you will end up with issues. This is BEFORE anything has started. Ask yourself what the situation will be AFTER the works or when you have a problem with the works?0 -
However it's not the neighbour who wants to do this work, but National Power, who aren't governed by the same rules as you and me.
Basically, if NP determine that they need to enter someone's land in order to sustain a supply, they can.
Now, whether this is a matter of economics rather than logistics is something I can't say from where I'm sitting, but in a sense it's immaterial, because NP will want to do what's best for them.
So the OP can push against any change on their own property, but if that will cost NP too much, or can be shown as against the interests of NP, then they may well push back, somewhat harder.
That is what I’m afraid of that they can force us to have this done and all of this fallout and stress will have been for nothing.
I do have it in writing (email) from them that this work isn’t necessary for us...for what that would be worth?0 -
The neighbour probably has no influence over this.
It's not for the neighbour to tell National Power how it should conduct its alteration of the supply, now it's been agreed that changes are necessary.
The company obviously want to put both lines underground, so I'd suggest that's the most likely outcome, unless the OP can persuade them otherwise.
As others have said, there could be some visual advantages for the OP in having their overhead line removed, so they should consider all this carefully.
I would be reasonably happy to let them complete the work if I had some guarantees that the work will be put back to original condition but they won’t give me that.0 -
thereRnoWords wrote: »The expense to them is not for you to worry about - is that why they're trying to get you to agree to having your drive dug up, to reduce their costs?
I imagine so, our neighbour initially told us there was another option that was going to cost more but NP have since told us that the only option is to put the cables underground so I don’t know for sure.0 -
theonlywayisup wrote: »Just take a moment and read what you have been writing. NP are not providing straightforward answers to your questions, are hard to get hold of and you feel you will end up with issues. This is BEFORE anything has started. Ask yourself what the situation will be AFTER the works or when you have a problem with the works?
I know, I’m already worried about the aftermath of what they plan to do but I don’t want to be seen as obstructing my neighbour’s extension. At the same time we need to make sure the work done on our property is going to be done to a decent standard but they haven’t done anything to instil confidence in me.0
This discussion has been closed.
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