Seller told us there was a phone line

firsttimeforeverything_2

Hi all,

We've recently bought a house, and the 'Property Information Form' that was included with the contracts, deeds, etc states that there is a telephone line, and that the provider is BT.

We've had BT (and Virgin) round, and there is definitely not a line in. BT gave us a quote of, wait for it... £7k to put one in.

So, I will call my solicitor, but it would be useful to get some preliminary responses- does this document form part of the contract to make this a misrep? Even if it does, is there even a slim chance of redress here?

Thanks team.

poppysarah

No I believe it doesn't. I would get your solicitor to confirm though.
Report back.

7k!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dan-Dan

Do you live at the peak of mount snowdon?!

Annabee

£7k? Why??? We moved in somewhere without a line, and the charge to put one in was about £160, which they waived if we agreed to stay with BT for 18 months. Where on earth is this house?

But no, the vendor should not have lied, and in the circumstances they should be paying for the installation of a line, or you should reduce your offer by the appropriate amount. I would check that that quote is really correct though!

Dan-Dan

Annabee wrote: »

£7k? Why??? We moved in somewhere without a line, and the charge to put one in was about £160, which they waived if we agreed to stay with BT for 18 months. Where on earth is this house?

But no, the vendor should not have lied, and in the circumstances they should be paying for the installation of a line, or you should reduce your offer by the appropriate amount. I would check that that quote is really correct though!

They now live in the house , its safe to say , it`s a little late to reduce their offer

Annabee

Oops I see the sale is already completed and you are in there. Yes, get on to your solicitor.

firsttimeforeverything_2

North London!

It's a relatively new property, but I can't believe the previous tenants lived there for 8 years without a phone line!

The phone call with BT was hilarious, they seemed puzzled why we wanted to cancel the order.

princeofpounds

Yes, the SPIF is a legal document related to the transaction (I can't say whether it is actually legally part of a the contract or not, but it certainly counts as misrepresentation to lie on it).

Lovelyjoolz

From BT's website:

Installing your new phone line

When you order a new landline we check your property to see if we can connect you easily or if you need an engineer visit. Most customers get connection at no extra cost. Some customers, just taking a BT line, may have to pay a connection fee of £50 (online special offer, normally £130). Or, if you're taking a broadband or TV package, it's included.
It takes around 14 days to have your landline telephone connection installed, depending on how busy our engineers are, or a bit longer if you're also ordering broadband and TV.
If you need an engineer visit we'll give you the first available appointment – this will be the same whether you call us or order online. Or you can choose a later date (8am-1pm or 1-6pm) that suits you.

http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/products/landline/new-landline#installation

Did they explain how they got to the £7k fee???

firsttimeforeverything_2

Straight from the horse's mouth:

Please accept my apologies for the delay in getting back to you. I have looked into the job and the engineer have advised there is excess charges that would have to be accepted by yourself before they can progress with the order. The total charge is £7,785.44 and the break down is Breakdown of charges items :-
Survey Charge £252.40
Duct Carriageway: 56 mts @ £80.12/Metre
Duct Footway: 6 mts @ £40.06/Metre
Cable in duct: 80m X £4.40 = £352.00
Provision of new Small Carriageway box £2453.96 X 1

nidO

The £50/£130 connection charge you quote is the connection charge to hook up your line assuming there is actually a physical cable in place connecting your house to the local cabinet.
The 7 grand quote the OP has been given kind of suggests there's no cable or even any ducting to his house, and that BT would have to be digging up roads to lay one.

Edit: Yep, per your above post OP, BT are having to dig up 56 metres of road and 6 metres of footpath to lay ducting and then cabling, as your property currently has neither.
You may of course wish to recheck with the vendor's solicitor as well as BT however, as it's entirely possible there's a snafu at BT's end and that the property is in fact cabled.
Are you in the middle of nowhere/do you have neighbours, if there are properties next door it might be worth asking whether they have BT cabling as it is of course pretty rare for any house to not be cabled at all, let alone a new-ish one that isn't up a mountain.