Phones still connected at new house

2005eyeball

NB I'd posted this in house buying/selling but wondering if I may get more help here?


So here's a strange thing. We're buying a house that has been empty for 4 years, rumour has it old owners (a business) went bankrupt. We're buying from a developer who bought the site, says no phones connected & definitely nothing in his name.


Called BT about phone connection, apparently there are 5 lines still live. After much discussion with BT, trying to take over an existing number they have told us we need to get a new line installed as they need to be told by the previous customer to close down the lines. We were at the house yesterday, plugged in a phone & yes it is definitely live. I called BT on it and asked if we could take it over as we were in the property now but they still said that without instruction from the previous owner it had to stay live.


It just seems really strange that it means we could keep using any of those lines - and that we will have to have a new line put in alongside one - and surely without the bill being paid the lines should have been cut off. I can't find any evidence that the bankruptcy is true, was wondering if bills are being paid by a receiver or suchlike who hasn't noticed?

macman

The won't physically put in another line, they'll reuse one of the existing lines. Have you actually tried dialling out from it? The fact that you get a dial tone doesn't mean that it is fully in service.
They can stop one of the existing lines for you to take over, but this normally results in about a month's delay as they try to trace the original subscriber first. The other lines are not your problem.

[Deleted User]

2005eyeball wrote: »

We were at the house yesterday, plugged in a phone & yes it is definitely live. I called BT on it

macman wrote: »

Have you actually tried dialling out from it?

See above,;)

macman

But can the OP dial nos. other than BT? If the bill is unpaid then the line may have been set to divert to BT only.

2005eyeball

Phone can definitely dial out to UK numbers & mobiles (didn't seem right to try a number abroad!) and can receive calls.

[Deleted User]

2005eyeball wrote: »

Phone can definitely dial out to UK numbers & mobiles (didn't seem right to try a number abroad!) and can receive calls.

That's unusual if the bill isn't being paid.

You'll have to wait for BT to sort it out.

2005eyeball

But BT say they can't sort it out without hearing from the previous customer, that's what's so strange, Moneyineptitude!

[Deleted User]

2005eyeball wrote: »

But BT say they can't sort it out without hearing from the previous customer

Can you confirm that the original occupier went Bankrupt? If you can find out his name (or business) it's public knowledge who has been made bankrupt and so easily checked. Then present this information to BT.
Otherwise, you'll have to wait for BT to try to trace the original subscriber and then take over one of the existing lines when they can't.

macman

As above. If you ask BT to take over the line then they will need about a month to try and trace the original subscriber. If you don't want to wait, why not just ask for a new line? The cost is the same, assuming that the line will eventually be disconnected anyway.

sinizterguy

macman wrote: »

As above. If you ask BT to take over the line then they will need about a month to try and trace the original subscriber. If you don't want to wait, why not just ask for a new line? The cost is the same, assuming that the line will eventually be disconnected anyway.

Is the cost the same if an engineer needs to come out and connect a new line ?

2005eyeball

No, I can't actually find any evidence of bankruptcy. Officially the cost should be much higher (£130 rather than free) but they have waived the charge. We have to wait for an engineer's visit though rather than just have the line connected automatically. It's annoying as we'd like more lines installed in future & it would be much easier for those to replace existing ones rather than booking more engineer visits (and possibly being charged, I guess).