Tenant rights landline Connection

thehare

We signed up for a 12month lease on a property with a letting agent that provides guaranteed income to landlord. When we moved in we transferred bt service to new property but meant 18 days to transfer. The property has numerous phone sockets, and an online postcode check showed 2-4meg speed. The day before connection was to take place we were contacted to say an issue with line evident. As the property is old and now 2 properties there is only 1 line in which the neighbour is using. Bt have quoted 15,000 to lay 600m of cable. We have told letting agent had we known no phone line available we would not have taken property. They will not terminate our contract. We are rural so mobile communications not reliable. What are our rights, Northwood Truro say it's tough....please help. We have 3 children of school age who need Internet access for school, and a son with asthma and we need to be contactable in an emergency.

anselld

Did anything in the agreement, advertising, inventory, etc indicate that a working phone line would be provided by the LL? If not then it is indeed "tough".

Try this?... http://www.tooway.co.uk/

Guest101

Just so u are aware, in this case northwoods is your landlord - so you will get as little spent on u as possible. Dorry

45002

In the end

the phone line/connection/contract is between the Tenant and phone company who ever you choose and nothing to do with LL/LA...

buglawton

Pity that in the UK, Internet is not a human right as it is in Finland. That would have forced the property owner to commission a line.

woodworm001

buglawton wrote: »

Pity that in the UK, Internet is not a human right as it is in Finland. That would have forced the property owner to commission a line.

What a stupid law that is. The internet should not be a 'human right', but that's a different discussion ....

Satellite Broadband will be an option for the OP (as long as there are no planning issues with having a dish on their roof). It's available pretty much everywhere and it costs around £30 a month (plus installation costs).

Mistermeaner

See if your neighbours will share their wireless? You pay half

Could also ask if you could have ccordless base unit plugged into their telephone line for emergencies only

princeofpounds

woodworm001 wrote: »

What a stupid law that is. The internet should not be a 'human right', but that's a different discussion ....

Satellite Broadband will be an option for the OP (as long as there are no planning issues with having a dish on their roof). It's available pretty much everywhere and it costs around £30 a month (plus installation costs).

The OP is not entirely clear but I think it's not just a case of no broadband; there is no phone line full stop, the only connection is to the neighbour.

There may be some differences if this sub-divided property is treated as a new property or not. BT are supposed to provide initial connections much more cheaply in some circumstances, and have a track record of not telling people this if they think they can get away with charging. Not sure if it applies here however.

This is another example of shoddy product quality control in the rental sector. It's not unreasonable to assume that sockets mean a connection; people shouldn't have to cart landline phones around to perform socket tests. You wouldn't get away with selling a bottle of Hermes perfume with coloured water inside it, and morally, if not legally, that's what this amounts to.

Internet as a human right is a silly concept and (indeed human rights themselves am only have the meaning society decides to give them) but Internet as a civil right is not such a silly idea. When it gets to the stage where almost all civil transactions (taxes, ID, banking, medicine) are online, then denying a person access to the Internet could be as harmful as denying them ID documents and an address would be now.

stator

It's worth kicking up a fuss. Complain to Nortthwood, then the ombudsmen
http://www.northwooduk.com/complaint-handling-procedure
I don't know what extent the new rules about estate agents applies to rentals and whether lack of a landline is considered so important it should be mentioned, but for me it would be.

Now the onus is on the agent to be frank and disclose any information that could affect a decision — not only to purchase but even view in the first place.



New house buyers' rights: The onus is now on the agent to be frank and disclose any information that could affect a decision

This means that agents and sellers will need to give more detailed descriptions on websites and during early telephone conversations. This applies to letting agents and landlords, too.

Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-2315200/Learn-new-house-rules-Estate-agents-reveal-property-problems-says-OFT.html#ixzz3NT2ySRFf
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

m0bov

What about cable?

kinger101

Just a side note. If you do get satellite broadband, you could also get a phone number from Skype. Together with a Skype phone, this could give you an alternative to a landline if your mobile signal is unreliable.