How can I make a neighbour dispute official?

spadoosh

vet8 wrote: »

I thought all problems between neighbours had to be recorded on that form, if he does not and I approach the new owner and say we were in dispute over the verge he could, in theory sue the seller for withholding information, or so I thought.

Theres no dispute. You (3rd party) asked if you (3rd party) could dig up their land. They said no. Theres no dispute. Its just you spitting your dummy out.

If i asked for your house and you presumably said no, would you call it a dispute?

davidmcn

vet8 wrote: »

I thought all problems between neighbours had to be recorded on that form, if he does not and I approach the new owner and say we were in dispute over the verge he could, in theory sue the seller for withholding information, or so I thought.

But even if that happened, the new owner hasn't suffered any loss (other than having been ignorant as to the mentality of his new neighbour...) so what would they be suing for?

Alter_ego

spadoosh wrote: »

Theres no dispute. You (3rd party) asked if you (3rd party) could dig up their land. They said no. Theres no dispute. Its just you spitting your dummy out.

If i asked for your house and you presumably said no, would you call it a dispute?

When did it become the neighbour's land ?

moneyistooshorttomention

At a very practical (ie how they could physically do the job) level - I would have thought OpenReach could run the phoneline from nearest existing pole to a pole on your property.

If there isn't a pole on your property currently - then, presumably, they could put one there.

If so - what is stopping them doing the job this way?

vet8

PasturesNew wrote: »

A wrong assumption to make. Property boundaries are where the paperwork says they are - often a verge outside of a fence is part of the property boundary.

For £3 you can download his title deeds from the online Land Registry site, instantly and see for yourself what his says.

I appreciate that that can be the case, but I am pretty sure here that his boundary ends at the verge and several people around here have been taken to court by the local council for trying to extend their garden onto the verge.

Which is the wrong approach to take if he is right ... if he is right and it is his land, then so long as you are not denied rights given to you in your deeds for particular types of access to that land, then his "No" can be final.

If it's his ... and there is nothing in the paperwork that gives you any rights to "dig up his garden" to create an ugly trench so you can get broadband, then that's the law. You can't go against the law if that's the case.

You need to start by establishing, absolutely, what you can do that's legal, lawful and correct, not try to bully some poor innocent sap who is minding his own business...

I assure you I have no intention of "bullying" him. Even the Open Reach guy was amazed at his refusal. All BT plan to do is dig a very narrow slit trench, fold back the turf, stick in the cable and relay the turf. As the BT guy said it would not even notice after a few weeks. I think the guy is being unneighbourly a typical NIMBY.

It makes it worse that there is NO mobile signal at all where we live so we have no way of contacting anyone in an emergency, that is why we need a landline.

spadoosh

Alter_ego wrote: »

When did it become the neighbour's land ?

Youre correct, it might not be their land.

However since BT are requesting permission from the land owner. Which for whatever reason theyve decided is the neighbour, nothing can happen without the permission from the neighbour unless BT become aware of someone else being the landowner.

It should be relatively easy proving who owns the land. Realistically i would assume BT have checked with land registry. I cant imagine they ever go out on a whim in deciding who they need to ask permission from to do their work. Thats a whole lot of liability for the sake of £3 do you not think?

vet8

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

At a very practical (ie how they could physically do the job) level - I would have thought OpenReach could run the phoneline from nearest existing pole to a pole on your property.

If there isn't a pole on your property currently - then, presumably, they could put one there.

If so - what is stopping them doing the job this way?

I agree with is, but BT have said they cannot run the cable overhead because there are overhead power cables along the road and they are not allowed to put new poles in. They insist it has to go underground. I would have thought new poles would be easier, but they say not.

vet8

spadoosh wrote: »

Youre correct, it might not be their land.

However since BT are requesting permission from the land owner. Which for whatever reason theyve decided is the neighbour, nothing can happen without the permission from the neighbour unless BT become aware of someone else being the landowner.

It should be relatively easy proving who owns the land. Realistically i would assume BT have checked with land registry. I cant imagine they ever go out on a whim in deciding who they need to ask permission from to do their work. Thats a whole lot of liability for the sake of £3 do you not think?

No, BT have not checked with the Land Registry, their whole approach is very odd.
Firstly they asked the local self-appointed bunch of people who go around repairing holes in the road and they said they do not repair the grass verge so it was not up to them. I cannot see that it is up to them anyway, they do not own the road. The road was originally made over 100 years ago by a company that built the first houses, there is no record at all of who owns it now. A neighbour spent ages trying to track down the owner and we have also contacted the Land Registry and there is no record at all.

eddddy

vet8 wrote: »

BT say they will only dig up the road if they have written permission from the road owner, that is lost in the mist of time

So BT (or Openreach) won't dig up the road without the untraceable land owner's consent.

Are you prepared to take the risk yourself, and you get a duct laid under the road - which OR can then feed their cable through? You'd have to check with OR whether using somebody else's duct solves their legal problem - or whether they still need the land owner's consent.


Builders and developers often lay their own ducts to OR's specs, for OR to use. (Here's their spec: https://www.ournetwork.openreach.co.uk/resources/site1/General/Downloads/quick-guides/Quick_Guide_Duct_Laying.pdf)


FWIW, a contractor laid a 15 meter length of gas pipe for me in an afternoon using a 'mole' (trenchless pipe laying). The disturbance on the surface was minimal.

Here's a nice picture of how it works (but not a recommendation for the company, because I don't know them) : http://www.molingsolutions.co.uk/


(Also, it may be very expensive!)

vet8

spadoosh wrote: »

Its not a neighbour dispute.

Its a neighbour trying to bully, threaten and harass someone in to doing something they dont have to do.

Personally if you did any of the things you suggest i would be reporting you to the police for harassment.

What do you mean??
What have I suggested doing that would qualify as harassment? I am merely trying to get a phone line connected which means digging a very narrow trench in a narrow grass verge in the road. Is that harassment?
Some people on this board are really odd.