Social housing and broadband cables on outside wall

dekaspace1

I signed up for full fibre broadband as my Virgin account has doubled in price, I didn't realise a extra cable needed drilled into wall and into box below.

Due to the layout of my flat which is upstairs the cable would come out my wall, go about 10 feet along, then under the front door and guttering for it and into the box in garden.

Neighbour has refused to let the engineer do this for 2 reasons one saying I need permisson from landlord which I understand but also that he thinks a cable will look ugly.

I phoned landlord who didn't have a problem with it as long as its tidy.

Just wondering in case neighbour claims we can't do it.

Scotland btw.

theartfullodger

What Do the terms of  your tenancy state about this please?

See what Landlord website says on the matter.

user1977

You haven't told us whether the neighbour is an owner or a tenant.

dekaspace1

We are both social housing tenants with same landlords, the HA has no problem with the cable being installed.

Though had issues in past with this neighbour over the communal garden as they think it's not and we have specific halfs.

eddddy

Perhaps a key question is "Who owns the wall that you want to fix the cable to?". It's up to the wall's owner to give consent.

Assuming you're a tenant and your landlord has given you consent - it's reasonable to assume that your landlord has got any consents they require from the wall's owner.


If it's a flat (in England/Wales) the wall is likely to belong to the building's freeholder. And the HA is probably the freeholder as well as being your landlord.



But presumably you don't really want to get into an argument with your neighbour - so maybe ask them to suggest what route they would like the cable to take, and see if you can reach an acceptable compromise.

la531983

If the landlord owns both properties and has given the OK surely the other neighbour can go whistle?
Just show the neighbour the message from the landlord giving permission. 

user1977

I can't see the other tenant having any right to veto this sort of alteration to the common parts of the tenement. On the other hand, I'm not sure the OP has the right to require their landlord to agree to a new cable being installed.

KxMx

Ask LL for permission in writing, allow the work to proceed and show the letter to neighbour if they complain to you and suggest they direct any complaint to LL, and not you, if they are unhappy.

Once again these neighbours are claiming rights over you that they simply do not have.

deannagone

I assume from what you've said, your flat is upstairs and the neighbour's is downstairs?  But wondering if there is a route that will minimise impact on your neighbour?

What is the cause of the dispute around the garden use (i.e. why does the neighbour insist on you using a half each, is there something you are doing with the shared garden the neighbour is resisting)?  I am wondering if there is a compromise there that will make a compromise on the cabling easier to negotiate?

dekaspace1

The HA owns the wall, the issues with neighbour dates back to they have been in the property since it was new almost 20 years ago and basically "staked a claim" to the front and back of their property and previous tenants have just gone along with this even though officially it's communal, I wrote about this on a thread in a different sub forum before.

I.e they dictate what I can and can't do on my side and I snapped at them around Easter time after they were intentionally speaking loudly and badmouthing me to their relatives and other neighbours as the grass was about 2 inches long, (and they have a history of reporting petty things to HA) and that was only after multiple times since I moved in they promised to cut it as they had their bins and a shed on my side (which they later denied despite 2 different HA staff witnessing it)

Bascailly to gain access to "my" garden I have to walk out front door, around a fence they put up and to the side and its the side that gets weeds and branches from the field opposite so I have to do gardening, and they have the area that is nice and has slabs down (that the HA put down) and steps, I just have a sloped bit of grass at back.

I just let it slide as too much hassle to argue with them, they have a reputation with many other neighbours of being petty.

deannagone

OOps I remember now, it was a dog poop issue that was a large part of this.  Did you ever put cheap solar lights in the back and return to letting your dog relieve itself in the back, rather than the front where the neighbours complained about it?

Problem is, however 'difficult' your downstairs neighbour is.., if there is no give and take between you at all, it will just keep being awkward when you could do with some agreement with your neighbour.

lol if you had seen my garden when I moved here.  It was a 25m2 sloped mud slab nothing would grow in.  Its now fenced,  paved, with lots of plants in it and I get compliments about it all the time.  I did wish I could have been given another property a couple of maisonettes up that was slabbed and fenced (and empty) but felt it was better to put energy into improving what I was given rather than negative feelings that would have gotten me nowhere.

I have mobility problems and it caused a lot of pain as I couldn't afford to get someone in to do it for me, but gritted my teeth and got it done.  The garden now makes me feel good. Having any garden was something not everyone gets with social housing so I consider myself lucky.  Concentrate on what you can do rather than what you can't or what someone else has or won't do.  Its just damaging to do otherwise.