Provision of a BT phoneline in a rental property?

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Does the LL have to provide a BT phoneline?

I viewed the property with an agent yesterday and on one of the phone boxes it said 'NTL' which I assume means it is connected to Virgin Media not BT

I need a BT phoneline for broadband as I do not want the VM cable product

BT charge £125 for a new line - Would it be reasonable to ask the LL to put this in or not?

Also the house is also for sale (LL's have split up) - If I sign a 6 month agreement - if they sell it I get to stay until the end of my agreement yes?

Wickedkitten

As far as I know, the landlord isn't even required to provide a working aerial and since there is actually a phoneline in there, it's not actually their issue if its not connected to the provider that you would like.

MX5huggy

No LL does not have to provide BT line, you can ask for the LL to give you a £125 discount for putting in the BT, they can only say no. I accepeted a T yesterday tha wanted to pay £50 a mth less than I was asking on a property. Bird in the hand and all that

If you sign a 6mth contract then you get 6mth but watch out for the property being repossesed, and the LL being an amatures.

Also look at mobile bband as you take it to your next property.

ginvzt

As posters said above, LL doesn't have to provide landline. We had to install BT line in this place at our own expense, even though there was a BT box already. Do not assume there is a line to the house if the phone box is in the house - it could have been disconnected from exchange (we have experienced that...)

mlz1413

ask when the BT line was stopped, if it was recently then there is every possibility the line is still into the property and only needs re-connecting which is £10.

You have the right to stay in a property if you have a signed AST, even if repossed the mortgage company should honor the tenancy. But if it is for sale are you expected to allowing viewings? Or will it be removed from sale when you move in?

If you were looking for a long term rental I would ask a lot more questions before you proceed any further, if your only looking for a 6 months rental then it probably won't matter either way.

blunt_crayon

If you sign up for Sky but do not have a phone line that they can use they will reimburse the installation/reconnection fee... obviously would work out more expensive in the long term but if you were planning on getting it anyway it's useful to know. They'll only do it for new customers though!

456789

MX5huggy wrote: »

No LL does not have to provide BT line, you can ask for the LL to give you a £125 discount for putting in the BT, they can only say no. I accepeted a T yesterday tha wanted to pay £50 a mth less than I was asking on a property. Bird in the hand and all that

If you sign a 6mth contract then you get 6mth but watch out for the property being repossesed, and the LL being an amatures.

Also look at mobile bband as you take it to your next property.

Heh well actually my mother is already asking them for a discount anyway - they have permission to rent it.

mlz1413 wrote: »

You have the right to stay in a property if you have a signed AST, even if repossed the mortgage company should honor the tenancy. But if it is for sale are you expected to allowing viewings? Or will it be removed from sale when you move in?

If you were looking for a long term rental I would ask a lot more questions before you proceed any further, if your only looking for a 6 months rental then it probably won't matter either way.

From what I can tell it will be withdrawn for sale when we move in and then in the 5th month it will be put back on if we aren't staying anymore

We are looking at initially 6 months then maybe another 6 - though if my father settles into his new job ok then we will probably buy

blunt_crayon wrote: »

If you sign up for Sky but do not have a phone line that they can use they will reimburse the installation/reconnection fee... obviously would work out more expensive in the long term but if you were planning on getting it anyway it's useful to know. They'll only do it for new customers though!

Yes I have heard of this - well we don't subscribe to sky anymore and just watch the free channels (the house has a dish on the wall so I assume we can just take our box and plug it in) - though thinking of that whenever they installed sky if they subscribed to it then they must have had a BT landline at that point

blunt_crayon

Yes I have heard of this - well we don't subscribe to sky anymore and just watch the free channels (the house has a dish on the wall so I assume we can just take our box and plug it in) - though thinking of that whenever they installed sky if they subscribed to it then they must have had a BT landline at that point

Doesn't make any difference, once another service provider has taken over the line rental they do something to it that means it can't be switched back without the reconnection fee. Total rip off if you ask me!

Also according to Martin's Money Tips you get £50 M&S vouchers if you sign up for Sky - £125 BT reconnection + £50 vouchers doesn't make Sky such a bad option actually, especially when you factor in free broadband etc.

SingleSue

Just a little point, I have VM for my phone but have Sky.....so you don't always need to have a BT line to receive Sky.

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SingleSue wrote: »

Just a little point, I have VM for my phone but have Sky.....so you don't always need to have a BT line to receive Sky.

Well the agent says an NTL line is installed so that means VM - I would really prefer a BT line so that I can get O2 internet - as the plug socket mentioned NTL and the agent said NTL too I assume they have had this line for a long time (i.e. before the namechange) so it should be out of minimum contract - when I move in can I just phone up VM customer services say I don't want the line and then ask BT to connect me up?

Geenie

I wouldn't do that OP, without consulting the LL first incase it causes problems. It wouldn't bother me, but it seems some LL's are fussy about which firms service their properties. Check your AST before doing anything, and see if there are any clauses about doing this, or better still, discuss with the LL before you agree to take on the property.