Neighbour hammering a cable to my fence

Simonon77

If the fence collapsed and damaged the cable, BT would fix it as it was their engineer who sited it there.

To be honest though you sound as bad as each other...

ThisIsWeird

oldernonethewiser said:

Mr.Generous said:

solentsusie said:

victor2 said:

So, if a strong wind blows out a fence panel and breaks the cable, who pays for it to be repaired?

And if the OP accidentally breaks the cable when replacing his damaged fence panels, who pays for the repair then?

Exactly my point. If there was nowhere else to hammer it to a wall, which the OP states there was, then it should have been run through ducting and buried in the ground.  

Yeah, should have. But they didn't. So want to fall out over it? If a panel needs replacing it's not OP's problem regarding the cable.

I reckon if a panel needs replacing and the cable gets damaged the neighbour will be very keen to make it the OP's problem.

And that would be an issue, I understand, since Liquid knows it's there, and has a duty of care. Bless.

Keep_pedalling

Simonon77 said:

If the fence collapsed and damaged the cable, BT would fix it as it was their engineer who sited it there.

To be honest though you sound as bad as each other...

Some neighbours do seem to deserve each other

casper_gutman

Personally, I think life is too short for picking fights over things like this. That said, I can see what others mean about the danger of liability attaching to you if your fence (or work you do on your fence) causes the cable to become damaged in future.

I wondered if you could avoid issues later by writing to the neighbour and saying something along the lines of: you did not give permission for the cable to be attached to the fence, and indeed you explicitly withheld that permission when you noticed the cable being installed there, and that you will not under any circumstances be held liable for any damage to the cable which may result from wear and tear damage to the fence or collapse of the fence in extreme weather (etc.), nor for any incidental damage to the cable during reasonable maintenance and/or future replacement of the fence.

Another thought occurs though: if you tolerate the cable remaining there without your permission for long enough (20 years springs to mind), there may be a possibility that the neighbour gains the right to keep a cable there through a prescriptive easement. These arise when a right is exercised openly and without permission for the required period. So, if you wrote a letter along the lines I mentioned above you may inadvertently provide the neighbour with evidence that: (i) they are exercising the right without permission and (ii) you are aware they are doing so (i.e., they are doing so openly). If the neighbour is savvy and the fence and cable are still there in 20 years, you could find that they have acquired a right to run cable along your fence!

If writing therefore, it might be better to say that, although you were not consulted and did not provide permission for the cable's installation in advance, you will give permission for it to remain there (but not for additional or replacement cables to be added) on the understanding that you will not be liable for any damage to the cable etc. etc.

Others may have thoughts on this approach!

fatbelly

Note to self: If I have a neighbour like this one I'll use screws and/or wait till he's out.

Simonon77

If the OP had not been  home he would have no idea the cable was attached to the fence, so why worry about what may happen in the future and start trying to get amateur solicitor with it all? Just forget about it and enjoy life. Who really cares if in 20 years they have the right to attach a cable to it or not? 

casper_gutman

Simonon77 said:

Who really cares if in 20 years they have the right to attach a cable to it or not? 

Not me, that's for sure! I wouldn't give this a second thought if it were my fence. Just playing along to pass the time on the train....

Section62

Simonon77 said:

If the OP had not been  home he would have no idea the cable was attached to the fence, so why worry about what may happen in the future and start trying to get amateur solicitor with it all? Just forget about it and enjoy life. Who really cares if in 20 years they have the right to attach a cable to it or not? 

Assuming the cable is a feed to the house rather than a private extension, the cable belongs to Openreach and only Openreach engineers can do any work to it - and they will want paying for that.

I don't know many people who would be happy with the idea of having to pay Openreach to temporarily remove a cable from a fence they owned, in order to carry out maintenance on the fence.  Especially when the cable is for the neighbour's benefit (and they have no right to attach anything to it) and the Openreach technician had been told not to do this.

The reason why the OP would be wise to get "amateur solicitor with it all" is that they probably have a better chance of getting the cable removed from their property now than they will at any time in the future.  The longer it is left on the fence, the more Openreach will argue the apparatus is there by some kind of established use or right.

I would make a complaint to Openreach on the grounds their technician was was advised about the ownership of the fence and that permission hadn't been given to attach their cable to it, but they went ahead and completed the installation.  Also, a fence isn't an appropriate surface to fix something permanent like a telecommunications cable to, especially as something more appropriate (the neighbour's wall) was available to use instead.

Mr.Generous

A lot to think about here. I think I'd take this to the European court. Well worth stressing over.

ashe

It would annoy me, if I had to take down a panel for maintenance I'd not want to be booking BT engineers to come and swap it out. As section62 says it's not an ideal place to be putting a cable.