BT Wayleave Rights

Gracie_Diver

I'm hoping someone can help. I have a BT telegraph pole in my garden and there is no Wayleave in place (this has been checked with BT). Simply put I don't want it there. I have contacted BT Openzone who have sent me a standard letter (it took them 90 days to do this) that asks for me to send them £200 as a non refundable fee to undertake 'preliminary work' to investigate; thereafter there will be other fees that they will charge me for moving their pole.

BT without any prior warning/notice keep entering my garden by climbing my wall and damaging the garden to undertake maintenance (they have paid me to make good the damage) - now I've had enough.

My understanding is that as it is their pole, with no Wayleave agreement in place, it is there responsibility to move it if I no longer want it in my garden. but am I correct? The situation is exacerbated by my trees growing ever taller so I am also worried that they may try and chop back my trees to stop them catching the overhead wires, without my permission.

Can I enforce them to move the pole at their cost and what are my rights to stop them forcing their way into my garden (which has a 6 foot wall and gates around it) to undertake any maintenance (damage) that they see fit? All thoughts much appreciated - I live in Scotland by the way if that makes any legal difference

Many thanks in advance for your help

Gracie

normanmark

You should seek some legal advice i would say. However if they have no wayleave i would say that you have every right to ask for it to be removed from your property & any engineer that tries to enter the property would be trespassing if they're not invited.

djohn2002uk

normanmark wrote: »

You should seek some legal advice i would say. However if they have no wayleave i would say that you have every right to ask for it to be removed from your property & any engineer that tries to enter the property would be trespassing if they're not invited.

May not be quite right. I read on here a year or so back that if the pole was there when you bought the property no wayleave is necessary.
I think wayleaves are only set up when the poles are originally erected and do not need to be renewed on subsequent change of ownership of property. This last sentence may not be 100%

Incisor

djohn2002uk wrote: »

May not be quite right. I read on here a year or so back that if the pole was there when you bought the property no wayleave is necessary.

Must be true then?

I think wayleaves are only set up when the poles are originally erected and do not need to be renewed on subsequent change of ownership of property. This last sentence may not be 100%

OP said that BT said there is no wayleave.

OP: Go with Normanmark's advice here

djohn2002uk

Incisor wrote: »

Must be true then?
OP said that BT said there is no wayleave.

OP: Go with Normanmark's advice here

What an A.H. I did say that it MAY NOT BE RIGHT! not that "It must be true" but anyway not everyone on here is like you, some are actually correct.
Why do people, when they know nothing about a post, and have nothing constructive to add, just wait for someone to have a go at. What a sad life you must have.

Incisor

djohn2002uk wrote: »

What an A.H. I did say that it MAY NOT BE RIGHT! not that "It must be true" but anyway not everyone on here is like you, some are actually correct.
Why do people, when they know nothing about a post, and have nothing constructive to add, just wait for someone to have a go at. What a sad life you must have.

So you say that some bloke on the internet said and you don't give a link. You give no basis for your statement other than mentioning that there was a thread about a year ago and you added nothing constructive to what Normanmark said. Calling someone A.H. is having a go at them BTW.

Stuart_W

As normanmark suggests, seek legal advice on this one.

I would just add seek free legal advice.

If you do not have access to free legal advice through a work or professional membership then join the Co-Op and use their service.

1. Join The Co-Operative Group http://www.co-operative.coop/membership/
2. Phone The Co-Operative Legal Services
http://www.co-operative.coop/membership/membersoffers/legalservices/

brightonman123

dunno about legalities, but shouldnt they be paying YOU for use of your land?

davy_fulla

Gracie_Diver wrote: »

I'm hoping someone can help. I have a BT telegraph pole in my garden and there is no Wayleave in place (this has been checked with BT). Simply put I don't want it there. I have contacted BT Openzone who have sent me a standard letter (it took them 90 days to do this) that asks for me to send them £200 as a non refundable fee to undertake 'preliminary work' to investigate; thereafter there will be other fees that they will charge me for moving their pole.

BT without any prior warning/notice keep entering my garden by climbing my wall and damaging the garden to undertake maintenance (they have paid me to make good the damage) - now I've had enough.

My understanding is that as it is their pole, with no Wayleave agreement in place, it is there responsibility to move it if I no longer want it in my garden. but am I correct? The situation is exacerbated by my trees growing ever taller so I am also worried that they may try and chop back my trees to stop them catching the overhead wires, without my permission.

Can I enforce them to move the pole at their cost and what are my rights to stop them forcing their way into my garden (which has a 6 foot wall and gates around it) to undertake any maintenance (damage) that they see fit? All thoughts much appreciated - I live in Scotland by the way if that makes any legal difference

Many thanks in advance for your help

Gracie

I work in as a survey officer/planner with Openreach so deal with issues like this on a daily basis. Up until about 10 months ago we would always move a pole without wayleave agreement at our own expense. However, the policy has now changed and we would look to reclaim costs if there was no engineering benefit to ourselves of doing the work. Don't shoot the messenger though as I just work to the policies - I don't create them.

I don't know whether you've spoke the wayleaves department on 0800 581525 but they would probably offer you a one-off payment to leave the pole where it is. It sounds though that the money isn't the issue and you just want rid of the pole. The £200 letter you speak of indicates to me that this has been dealt with by a slightly different department to where I work known as Repayments Planning. Have you tried calling the network rearrangement team on 0800 0121387?

On a legal basis you would have to submit an official notice under para 20 or 21 of the Telecommunications Act 1984. This must be a hand delivered or recorded delivery letter - a phone call or a letter not submitted under para 20 or 21 of the code is not regarded as official notice and so Openreach would have no obligation to react to it. Your solicitor will be able to help more with this. Once submitted, Openeach have 28 days to either confirm the work will go ahead or submit a counter notice which may mean the case will end up in court. I'm dealing with one at the moment which is at this stage but I can't confirm whether any of these cases have yet been tried in court or what the outcome was.

davy_fulla

djohn2002uk wrote: »

May not be quite right. I read on here a year or so back that if the pole was there when you bought the property no wayleave is necessary.
I think wayleaves are only set up when the poles are originally erected and do not need to be renewed on subsequent change of ownership of property. This last sentence may not be 100%

Dunno if you're referring to the post I made just over a year ago djohn?

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=5726851&highlight=davy_fulla#post5726851

It's an awkward area this and my original post was made when the 'old' process was in place, i.e. we moved at our expense if no wayleave existed. I believe in Gracie Diver's case the wayleave department would offer a one-off payment (not backdated) for the pole. If this is refused then it will likely go down the legal route.

Gracie_Diver

Hi all many thanks for the replies I will take up the co-op point and am also in contact with BT business leadership to get their input. Davy is quite right what I want is rid of the pole and that BY have arbitarily intorduced a charging policy is v interesting thanks all Gracie