Tenant rights landline Connection

jjlandlord

martinthebandit wrote: »

Really? I had no idea I lived in a either of those places.

kinger101 wrote: »

In the sticks, you'd need line of sight to a base station. So you can get cold spots in England too. Particularly hilly areas.

Guys, are you going to list me all the blind spots in England?

I said coverage was reliable unless quite unlucky. I think that accurately depicts the facts.

jbainbridge

Given that the property has numerous phone sockets I don't think it would be unreasonable to expect a phone line. The landlord would have been very much aware of this (and probably the agent).

I'm surprised BT are unable to do anything at a reasonable cost as most properties will have several 'pairs' of wires (only one pair is required). So even if the property is remote I doubt they would need to run a new cable the whole way. I'd pursue BT further to see what they can do.

patman99

Op, have you tried another provider such as Plusnet ?. They will charge you the standard connection fee and then book Openreach who will then run a new cable through the same duct (or across the same poles) as the cable connected to the neighbouring property at no cost to you.

I have a friend who spent years as a cable customer before switching to a BT-based line. BT wanted a fortune to connect him due to the amount of cabling required, so he went with Talktalk who charged him nothing to connect, but it still required Openreach to run the same length of wire from the same exchange via the same poles as they would have done if BT had supplied the line. This was at no extra cost to himself.

thehare

im sorry I thought Cornwall was classed as rural. How stupid of me. It is not just about Internet. I stated my son has asthma and we need to be contacted in an emergency. Mobile signal is not up to it, and I am under contract with 3. We are not talking about reconnection of 120 quid or so. We have been told that 1 line comes into the main property. The property is 2 no separate dwellings. The landlord insists he and next door had a connection. The neighbour said he was given password to saddle the connection, but back tracked. Bt have now confirmed twice only 1 line comes in. Someone is not giving correct info. I work from home on occasion, and had I noticed no phone sockets I would not have taken the property. I am going to see a solicitor to see where I stand, as letting agent not think this is grounds to terminate. Although it all stinks as it transpires landlord is friends with agent

stator

In the short term I would check whether you can get a decent signal from any of the main providers. You don't need to enter into a contract, you can get PAYG mobile broadband SIM cards and connect them to an unlocked USB DONGLE. Then you can test it out and if you get a signal with any of them you could think about a contract for mobile broadband, better than nothing.

The main providers are EE (t-mobile & organge use the same network) , O2 and Vodafone. If you can't get a signal with those three then you are indeed screwed.

jjlandlord

thehare wrote: »

Although it all stinks as it transpires landlord is friends with agent

You do realise that the agent is the landlord's agent and represents him, right?

thehare

jjlandlord wrote: »

Mobile is reliable in rural areas unless in deep Wales or Scotland.
Or, they are really unlucky...



Spending the day on youtube or whatnot is not compulsory for kids, you know?
OP said "internet access for school", that's not going to cost £150 a month.

My children do not spend all day on net. My eldest was student of the year at secondary school, and about to start GCSEs, we take her education seriously and She is not able to carry out studies to the required level.

We are not a family who sit on the net TVs etc all day, I am a civil engineer at times I am required to work from home, if it snows or I am not able to get to the office I do not get paid. With no phone or net link I lose wages.

Like it or not basic communications impact our lives regardless if we like it or not.

System

jbainbridge wrote: »

So even if the property is remote I doubt they would need to run a new cable the whole way. I'd pursue BT further to see what they can do.

Since it probably is not a single run to that house then it sounds as though all the pairs are being used in the multipair cable. It will mean replacing the cable with a new one from the cab or exchange that it emanates from (possibly from the exchange if all the pairs to the cab are also in use).

kinger101

thehare wrote: »

im sorry I thought Cornwall was classed as rural. How stupid of me. It is not just about Internet. I stated my son has asthma and we need to be contacted in an emergency. Mobile signal is not up to it, and I am under contract with 3. We are not talking about reconnection of 120 quid or so. We have been told that 1 line comes into the main property. The property is 2 no separate dwellings. The landlord insists he and next door had a connection. The neighbour said he was given password to saddle the connection, but back tracked. Bt have now confirmed twice only 1 line comes in. Someone is not giving correct info. I work from home on occasion, and had I noticed no phone sockets I would not have taken the property. I am going to see a solicitor to see where I stand, as letting agent not think this is grounds to terminate. Although it all stinks as it transpires landlord is friends with agent

You've been given a cost-effective alternative in satellite broadband and a skype phone number (which can be dialed from landlines/mobiles). There is no statutory right to these connections, so you'd need to demonstrate the LL/agent advertised the property (either in writing or orally) with a connection to have much chance of success. You might do better to see if you can persuade the landlord to pay the the installation costs of the dish.

G_M

What is your aim?

To get out of the contract? or to get some telecoms installed?

There are a number of good suggestions in the thread regarding telecoms: follow up on all of them.

Bear in mind no tenancy exists till you move in. Once you do, ending the tenancy is harder without the consent of your landlord (whoever that is).

Until you move in there is a contract, and yes, you can be sued for losses the LL incurs if you breach the contract, but you could defend by claiming a counter-breach (ie implied term that telecoms would be available) which might/might not succeed.

It's unclear who your LL actually is, but likely to be Northwoods: they have a commercial letting from the owner, and sublet to you under an AST.