New build not ducted to BT infrastructure

harpe

New build house never ducted to BT infrastructure

My house is one of 20 plots. 18 of the other plots were connected to the infrastructure correctly, cables at the front of the house boxed away etc. My house and next door were forgotten about (somehow...). We have unconnected cables dangling out the house by the front door.

When I moved in Openreach were able to connect me directly to the pole, which is next to the side of my house by my parking space. They ran a physical cable from the pole, to the back of my house, down my wall and through it. Its not particularly aesthetically pleasing but I was glad to be connected quickly.

Whilst Openreach were trying to sort me out, they told me that the property hadn't been connected to the ducts - it needed rodding to work out what was going where, and there was a good chance that to fix it the road might need digging up. It wasn't visibly obvious where it would be possible to run underground cabling from to connect the two houses. It was unclear whether this was the New Site Development Team's responsibility or would fall back on my builder to chase up whoever they contracted but the gist was - to sort it out would be expensive and time consuming and no one seemed keen.

I would have liked it to have been done properly but now that I am connected I don't have any leverage to get it sorted (unless I do, please let me know!!). However I am concerned about repercussions down the line and would like to do what I can to get it sorted within the first year of the new build warranty, if it can be sorted.

My concern is: no one is living next door (we are semi detached). I have seen them once in the time living here, they appeared in the middle of the night, dashed in and out of the house a few times and that was it. There is no furniture. The grass has never been cut. There are no curtains. There is without a shadow of a doubt no one living there. Therefore, there is no one who currently cares about the internet connection.

BUT

I presume that some day someone WILL care. And when they try to get connected to the internet they will find out they can't. Because it is physically impossible for the pole that connects my house to the internet to be used to connect theirs, due to the layout/design of our houses and the site.

Is there anything I can do? To persuade the builder to chase their original contractor - since they paid the contractor to connect these two houses to the duct and it was not done correctlt can they not get resolve it? Does it fall under the remit of snagging? Does it fall under the media connection part of stuff in the contract when I bought the house?

Also. If I change from BT to another supplier will another supplier be able to use the cable that currently exists or will there be more issues?

At the very least, would I be able to ask the builder to come put a box on the house to hide the wires and cables, like all the other plots on the development?

Would appreciate anyone's insight.

martindow

You have got yourself connected and it sounds as if an overhead cable was the most practical solution.

I wouldn't worry about next door. If they want cables laid then it is up to them whether they chase the developer or seek compensation. Their problem not yours!

stator

If they have purchased the house you can buy the title entry from Land Registry for £3 and find out who owns it.

silvercar

I presume that some day someone WILL care. And when they try to get connected to the internet they will find out they can't. Because it is physically impossible for the pole that connects my house to the internet to be used to connect theirs, due to the layout/design of our houses and the site.

I doubt it's physically impossible, you said it's an adjoining semi so it can't be that far away from you.

ProDave

Having built 2 new houses now, I know that Open Reach "allocate" about £3K per property for a new connection. Only if the cost of the works exceed that would it cost you anything. You probably could have held out and insisted they put your cable underground. But now you are connected and working I think it's too late.

Of all the utilities I did find Open Reach the hardest to deal with.

To give an example of costs, I had to do a road crossing for my electricity and water connections and that cost me £1K to have the road dug up.