BT illegally ran a line along our property and wants to charge us to remove it?!?

alanwan

Browntoa wrote: »

your dispute is not with BT really , its with your next door neighbour ???

you could tell the letting agent for next door that they will get the bill to give to the Landlord

That's the thing, the agents are being really sly and not letting us contact the landlord directly and the landlord won't respond to the email we've forwarded to them. they keep taunting us about ''legal implications'' it may have if we touch their equipment but they won't sort out the issue

spike7451

alanwan wrote: »

the letting agents keep taunting us telling us not to touch their landlords equipment as it could have ''legal implications''.

Bull !!!!...it's NOT their land lords equipment,it's the property of BT,they own everything up to & including the NTE Master socket.After THAT it's the landlords stuff.

alanwan

Keith wrote: »

Get a copy of the title from the Land Registry and write to the landlord.

we did that... = no response lol

alanwan

spike7451 wrote: »

Bull !!!!...it's NOT their land lords equipment,it's the property of BT,they own everything up to & including the NTE Master socket.After THAT it's the landlords stuff.

What would you advise us to do? it's been really tempting to cut their line...but it's possibly an offence?

vax2002

And how would they prove you touched it again, on "Legal implications" tell them to try this for size, £150 per year rental charge for using your wall

alanwan

vax2002 wrote: »

And how would they prove you touched it again, on "Legal implications" tell them to try this for size, £150 per year rental charge for using your wall

haha, I am very tempted to do that but don't want to risk a visit from the police during tea time

WestonDave

I'd remove one of the cable clips very carefully, move the wire so that its directly over the cable clip nail hole, and then nail the cable clip back into place. Chances are you will at least damage the insulation inside and create a short, if not sever one of the wires completely. (can't remember if phone wire is 6 or 4 wires these days within the outer cable). If anyone asks, that's how it was when you were looking at it, and if its anything at all to do with you, it can only be that in examining it and working out where it was going you've disturbed it slightly so that the already present damage affected the circuit.

Then when someone comes out to fix it, you can tell them its not allowed to be there so fix it somewhere else!

spike7451

alanwan wrote: »

What would you advise us to do? it's been really tempting to cut their line...but it's possibly an offence?

Going by your post#9,they must've installed the line while you were out & in doing so did not ask permission to enter your property & install the line.So I would inform them that any damage to the line is not your responsibility unless they can produce a wayleave signed by you,the homeowner.
I would give them a deadline to respond to your request & remove the line from your property,after that I'd seek legal route. (CAB/Solicitor letter)

patman99

You have the chance to make some money from BT. They pay £15 p/a to place their phone pole inside your boundary, so you could try £20 p/a to rent the wall to them. Why see it as a negative, when you can turn it in to a positive.

I once worked with someone who, when hearing the local Council were looking to erect a few road signs outside his boundary, he pointed-out that they would be vulnerable to vehicle impact.
The signs went up inside his boundary and he got £550 p/a rent (with a yearly 2.5% increase to boot).

iniltous

I would think that BT have failed to understand the point you are trying to make, if BT have served a neighbouring property by attaching their cable to your property, in the period that you have owned it ( so not before you became the owner ) then BT have no right to do so without your permission and you can ask for it to be removed at no expense to you, BT would have to remove it, if that were your wish ( i think they have 3 months to comply) or more likely they would offer you a payment (wayleave) to leave it as it is.....if you havent already , you need to contact Openreach, not BT retail, and get the ball rolling, from what you say it looks as if whoever you have been speaking seems to think you want to move a wire that serves your own property, this would indeed be chargable to you.....
Do you have a (non cable) telephone service yourself ? if so are you a BT customer ? or a customer of another service provider ? if you are not a BT customer, then you cannot really have a valid opinion on their customer service , if I were you I would get onto OR
call 0800 581 525 and choose the relevant option (wayleaves)