BT Poles on my land - BT unaware

ironnick

Hello,
I live on a small farm in Hartfield East Sussex.
I have three BT poles on my land. The Open Reach Wayleaves office ([EMAIL="wayleaves.north@openreach.co.uk"]wayleaves.north@openreach.co.uk[/EMAIL]). seem adamant that the poles on the land belong to my neighbour (he owns the land next door - same post code). I own the land to the west of this. They have now closed the case. I phoned the Wayleaves office 0800 023 2023 (option 4 then option 2). It appears that there is no record of the poles on my land. They have numerous wires on them which serve the area. As there is no BT record at the wayleaves office (there is at the exchange, as they keep sending their engineers up here to fix the various problems), can I remove these poles? I've lived here for many years and never been paid a wayleave.
Regards,

macman

Has your neighbour been paid a wayleave?
What do the deeds say in respect of any wayleaves?
It is possible that the matter was settled many years ago (before you owned the property) by way of a one-off payment (as the amounts are often so small that to make regular payments of a few pence is totally uneconomic).
No, you can't just remove the poles (apart from the fact that you may then disconnect your own phone service)!

Buzby

You can escalate the issue and get them to confirm the poles aree not theirs - or send them a document to sign confirming the poles do not belong to OR. If you remove them without this protection, you then become liable for service restoration and may well cost you a 4 or 5 figure sum.

Unless you have documents showing you have granted a way-leave to the GPO, POT or BT, it would be best to find out who has,

tronator

How would you feel if some other bright person had the same idea and removed the poles from his property, which carry the wires for your telephone line?

anotheruser

tronator wrote: »

How would you feel if some other bright person had the same idea and removed the poles from his property, which carry the wires for your telephone line?

Not very nice, but then at least BT would acknowledge the poles actually are theirs.... if they are.

If BT don't want to play ball, forcing the issue may be the only option left.

However if this is a get rich quick scheme by the OP - shame on you. Too many greedy land/house owners are leaving the younger generation to rot.

Oli.s

The land boundarys may well have changed via sales etc after way leave was granted your land May at one point have been part of the neighbours land.