Is it OK to use previous neighbours' landline?

hunkietechie

Hi Guys,

I am in a kinda strange situation and not sure if I should consider myself lucky or otherwise. I live in a flat wherein I used to share the internet with one of my neighbours. He had a BT line and a broadband and I used to share the net wirelessly with him. Now he has left the house without any notice more than a month back. Since I desperately needed the internet, I took the wire from his house and have kept it in my room with the home hub and phone. I dont know if he has disconnected the line or not but it still continues to work after a month. I called BT and found that the next bill is due in sep. Now I am not sure if he is still paying the bill or has he cancelled the line. I am more than happy to pay the bill on his behalf but I dont know his account details and I dont want to take a new line as that would mean a contract for 12 months. Now my only concern is that if BT comes up one day and says that its illegal to use someone else's line and that he hasnt paid the bill for all the months, I am doomed. Any suggestions on my future course of action would be greatly welcome. I am sure that this guy hasnt finished his 12 months contract, which I assume is gonna end this Nov. Thanks in advance!

1984ReturnsForReal_2

Errrrrr

For some strange reason the words....

Criminal Offence keep coming to my mind...

Buzby

Ooh - currently 'theft of service' comes to mind. If you're happy with this, mail interception won't be a hassle, and you can grab his bill and pay it.....

Heinz

Theft Act 1968, Abstracting Electricity (Section 13).

13. Abstracting of electricity
A person who dishonestly uses without due authority, or dishonestly causes to be wasted or diverted, any electricity shall on conviction on indictment be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.

BTW, it's an arrestable offence.

1carminestocky

I don't suppose he's left his Sky sub going also? If so, a video sender wouldn't go amiss. :rolleyes:


PS What you are doing isn't a great idea and I think you know it.....

hunkietechie

Thanks guys for ur replies...When I meant my neighbour, he actually stays in the same flat. Its just that the flat has 4 different houses on two floors. So BT would consider this as a single flat I believe since the address is the same for all the 4 houses...will this still amount to an offence? In any case, your comments have made me to stop using his net for the time being till I get any clarity from my landlord!

macman

How can you have 4 'houses' inside one flat (unless you live in the TARDIS)?
Is it a shared tenancy with 4 bedrooms, or 4 separate bedsits on which you pay separate rent? How are you rated for council tax-one property or 4 separate?
Regardless of the above, you've still stolen property from the other 'house'.

hunkietechie

When I meant a flat, it is a two storey house with 4 separate studio/1 bedroom apartments in it. The mail that we receive in the house is not addressed separately but is stored at a common place. Although yeah....we are paying council tax separately.

So how about this...I guess sharing a wireless network with the consent of the owner is not a crime. Now if that owner leaves the house without disconnecting and I continue to receive the signal, will I be liable??

Heinz

hunkietechie wrote: »

I guess sharing a wireless network with the consent of the owner is not a crime. Now if that owner leaves the house without disconnecting and I continue to receive the signal, will I be liable??

This is a little bit different to "receiving the signal" though. You said, "I took the wire from his house and have kept it in my room with the home hub and phone" which is clear evidence of intent and with, I believe, the provider (BT) being the aggrieved party.

TotallyBroke

How did you get it from his 'house'? Do you have a key or did you break in.

When you say you pay council tax seperately, do you pay the council each with a paying in book or by dd or do you pay towards it with your rent to the landlord?

macman

hunkietechie wrote: »

When I meant a flat, it is a two storey house with 4 separate studio/1 bedroom apartments in it. The mail that we receive in the house is not addressed separately but is stored at a common place. Although yeah....we are paying council tax separately.

So how about this...I guess sharing a wireless network with the consent of the owner is not a crime. Now if that owner leaves the house without disconnecting and I continue to receive the signal, will I be liable??

It's clearly 4 separate properties for tax and legal purposes. The fact that you only have a single mailbox is irrelevant. BT might not be aware of that, but everyone else is. You could easily have a separate line to each unit, which woud be 4 separate accounts.
Questions might also be asked about how you gained access, as presumably each bedsit has it's own door and lock?
I don't think you're going to get anyone on here to say that what you have done is just 'sharing internet acess with consent'.
Your ex-neigbour will be technically liable for all the bills incurred on that line until he cancels the account.