Who's responsibility for damage to property - phone line?

raelwi

On Friday 18th Feb 2022 during the storms that the UK were experiencing, a tree in my next door neighbour's driveway fell down. With it, my phone cable (which provides my broadband internet) was ripped out and consequently where it was attached to my property (fixed there before I bought it back in 2014) took some of my roof fascia and some guttering. Half of the front of my property is now missing some roof and some guttering. I rang my home insurer (Esure) straight away who told me that I should speak to my broadband provider (Sky) who should come and repair the cable (or rather BT Openworld would, who they have an agreement with) and they also confidently told me that Sky should make and pay for repairs to my property! They also told me that this was not the responsibility of my neighbour because the damage was caused by the cable which was not owned by either myself or my neighbour. They told me that they would call me back in 3/4 working days and if the issue had not been resolved I could discuss making a claim, I would however incur £375 excess for this work to be done. I am currently out of contract with Sky (something I have been meaning to sort out as I wanted to shop around first) and because of that Sky informed me that engineers could come out to fix the phone line but at a charge to me of £65. If I were to take out a new contract with them however, it would be free to have the cable fixed. They were keen to push me to take out a new contract with them. When I asked about the damage and what my home insurer had said, they practically laughed and said it was nothing to do with them. They said that because the damage had been caused by adverse weather conditions it was not their fault. I expressed that this was also not my fault either! They advised I speak to my home insurer! I am of the understanding that everything up to the point of the connection point inside my house is the service providers responsibility/liability. When I said this, they refused to acknowledge the damage was anything to do with them.

I am looking to know what claims I can make and what rights I have? I may be out of contract with Sky but I am still paying them (an extortionate amount of money) each month and the phone cable is owned by them and is for example not something I can tamper with! Also, I am now loathe on principal to take a new contract our with them and feel my bargaining power to negotiate is somewhat weak when they know I don't currently have broadband access, something I need as I work from home.

Where does responsibility lie? Is my home insurer wrong about Sky? Where is there evidence to suggest they can so confidently say that damage to my property is Sky's to make good? I have now been without internet access for five days - can I claim any money back from Sky? Just because I am out of contract with them can they treat me like this? I am still paying them to provide me with internet access which requires the phone line to be in working order!

Thanks in advance for any and all advice.

iniltous

The cable that damaged your ‘roof’ belongs to Openreach , but the cable was torn down by a falling tree in your neighbours land ….if the tree had not fallen then the roof wouldn’t have been damaged by OR’s cable, so IMHO , the liability is with your neighbour, in-fact OR could ( but probably won’t ) also claim against your neighbours insurance as their tree also damaged OR  property as well as your roof.
Your neighbours insurance should cover the damage ( third party liability) ,  it’s no different if their tree had fallen directly onto your roof.
If your neighbours doesn’t need to claim anything themselves , and won’t inform them of your damage , you may need your insurance company involved, to ‘pay’ your costs and claim them back , and ( unfortunately ) they could simply repair your roof , request your buildings excess to be paid by you, and leave it for you to peruse the other party for restitution.
All Sky will do is raise a fault report , they have no liability whatsoever in this scenario, but neither do OR ….it’s also pointless raising a fault if the only place a replacement wire could attach is  the part of the roof that is damaged, the roof would need repairs first, if the cable can attach safely elsewhere on the property then this isn’t an issue

lisyloo

I beg to differ.
the neighbour isn’t liable unless you have proof they were negligent which is highly unlikely.
that almost certainly means their insurer won’t pay out as their insurer covers their liability and they are not liable

https://www.frettens.co.uk/site/blog/litigation-blog/storm-damage-to-trees-fences-and-property-who-pays

you are responsible for your own property damage I’m afraid but are presumably insured.

I think your insurer are wrong to say that sky have to pay for your damage (perhaps they didn’t understand the tree caused the damage and not the cable).

No one is liable for the tree falling, so you all have to fix your own damage.

sorry I’m not clear on sky’s obligations to you. If I understand it you have paid for internet but not the phone line? You’ll need to look at your contracts as I’m not sure how that works. What they are saying sounds about right.
I though a phone line was essential for broadband???

pramsay13

I'm afraid this is just one of those things. 
If it's just a bit of fascia and guttering it will probably be cheaper to get it fixed, although if it's is actually half your roof missing it will probably need to be an insurance claim.
This is literally why you have home insurance.
If you wanted you could ask your neighbour to pay the work or the excess but unless they have been negligent it is not their responsibility. 
Maybe they will contribute something towards your bill.

maisie_cat

As a general rule, any claim against the neighbour would fail unless the neighbour was negligent, and that would be if they were told that the tree was likely to fall and did nothing about it.
In these scenarios we all claim from our own insurance, that's what it's there for.
If it's just the fascia and guttering pulled off by the force of the cable being knocked down I wouldn't expect that to be a big job to fix.
If it was me I'd fix myself and simply inform the insurer rather than pay the excess.

raelwi

Hi - thanks for your comments. To clarify the last point, I pay Sky for the phone line in order to have broadband access - as you say I can't have one without the other. I will need to check the contract. CAB have advised that in the contract it may state that Sky are not liable for damage caused by adverse weather and so I may have to pay for the repair of the cable and also not have a right to claim for any money back from Sky for the broadband I have not had access to for the past 6 days.

lisyloo

I don’t think it’s up to you to fix sky’s cables.
plus if they don’t fix them and they might do further damage lashing about then they need to fix them to stop being liable. Once they know then they could be liable for any damage going forward.

what did you mean when you said you were out of contract? For the phone?
how do you expect to get broadband if you haven’t paid for the landline?
apologies if I’ve misunderstood something.

The_Fat_Controller

SKY do not own any cables.

Openreach provide the infrastructure and SKY pay for the usage thereof, it will be Openreach that need to fix the problem but the customer has to report the issue to SKY and then they contact OR to do the work.

As for being "out of contract" all that means is the OP is paying full price on a month to month basis and has not committed to a 12/18/24 month contract at a preferential price.

lisyloo

Thanks.
the point about liability remains. If the cables are a threat (to property perhaps) then the owner would be liable for any subsequent damage if they don’t fix it after being advised.

The_Fat_Controller

@lisyloo only Openreach or their authorised contractors are allowed to work on the phone network outside a home.

The demarcation point is the back of the master socket in a property.

lisyloo

The_Fat_Controller said:

@lisyloo only Openreach or their authorised contractors are allowed to work on the phone network outside a home.

The demarcation point is the back of the master socket in a property.

Sure.
my point is that if they are told that the (potentially) lashing cable may damage the property and possibly people as well, then they are negligent and legally liable if they do nothing about it within a reasonable timescale.

they are not liable for storm damage or anything they could not reasonably know about, but if they know and don’t fix it then they can be held liable.
this is not related to whether there is any contract in place or not.

they need to make it safe.