Openreach line goes through property next door

Atlast80

Hi All,
I'm new to forum and desperately in need of help. sale of our property in jepardy......
We bought this property 7 years ago. It was part of a Equine Clinic [previously a farm with a bungalow as residence] The bungalow was used as a place for groom etc to live/overnight when horses were being kept in the clinic. It had a phone line underground from the clinic office to the bungalow. In 2018 it was sectioned off from the clinic and 'sold' to us. We did not realize that the phoneline was connect to/through the clinic as we were told it was a separate line to the bungalow as was the mains water [newline]. All was well until the clinic was closed and relet to a Bathroom supplier, who when renovating cut our line!! [they were going to use a 'starlight' system] and didn't need  the BT line. They did reconnect our line, BUT now we are selling it has been picked up by our buyer that the line goes 'through' the actual building [due to us when filling in one of the 'law' forms that we did have 'wires' going into the property next door..
We tried several years ago to have the 'line' re-routed' but could connect anyone and if we did we were sent in circles with the 'saying' but you have a line!!!???
Can anyone out there please help.... wev'e just found out next home and now this has happened.

QrizB

What's the actual problem here? Has your buyer got cold feet because your phone line passes through the property next door?

I don't quite understand why it's seen as a big enough problem to pull out of a property purchase over?

Atlast80

QrizB
When I said through the property I mean actually through the building. Not just the ground area as in outside. 
From our bungalow it goes under the ground to an outside lobby/shed area up the wall into the building [this is were the clinic office was] then through ducting [not sure where but with in the building] to the 'openreach box' and presumably underground to the pole in their boundery.

littleboo

Re-routing a line is likely to be expensive and if its copper, a waste. Wait until full fibre comes along. Its only resulted in one problem in 7 years and it will presumably be a while before the bathroom company renovates again

Atlast80

Unfortunately we need to sell to get nearer to local hospital due to hubby's cancer treatments. So looks like we are between a rock and a hard place.

littleboo

I don't see why.  It's just a less than ideal situation but by no means unique and doesn't prevent service.

QrizB

Atlast80 said:

QrizB
When I said through the property I mean actually through the building. Not just the ground area as in outside. 
From our bungalow it goes under the ground to an outside lobby/shed area up the wall into the building [this is were the clinic office was] then through ducting [not sure where but with in the building] to the 'openreach box' and presumably underground to the pole in their boundery.

And I still can't see why this is a problem.

If your property didn't have a phone line at all, one could be installed for a few hundred - which is nothing when it comes to property values.

(Edit: Broadband Genie has some indicative prices here:

https://www.broadband.co.uk/broadband/help/new-phone-line-installation-guide )

Your buyer will have spent far more than that on a survey, surely? What issues do they think it's going to cause?

littleboo said:

Re-routing a line is likely to be expensive and if its copper, a waste. Wait until full fibre comes along. Its only resulted in one problem in 7 years and it will presumably be a while before the bathroom company renovates again

Exactly this.

35har1old

QrizB said:

Atlast80 said:

QrizB
When I said through the property I mean actually through the building. Not just the ground area as in outside. 
From our bungalow it goes under the ground to an outside lobby/shed area up the wall into the building [this is were the clinic office was] then through ducting [not sure where but with in the building] to the 'openreach box' and presumably underground to the pole in their boundery.

And I still can't see why this is a problem.

If your property didn't have a phone line at all, one could be installed for a few hundred - which is nothing when it comes to property values.

(Edit: Broadband Genie has some indicative prices here:

https://www.broadband.co.uk/broadband/help/new-phone-line-installation-guide )

Your buyer will have spent far more than that on a survey, surely? What issues do they think it's going to cause?

littleboo said:

Re-routing a line is likely to be expensive and if its copper, a waste. Wait until full fibre comes along. Its only resulted in one problem in 7 years and it will presumably be a while before the bathroom company renovates again

Exactly this.

If you applied for full fibre broadband they would have to reroute 

iniltous

This obviously should’ve been sorted before you bought the place by the people selling it to you , if they were as forthcoming in pointing out this issue (as you are required to be with your buyer ) would you have proceeded 7 years ago ?

…..splitting  business premises can be expensive, and although this isn’t like dividing a single factory into two factories with  both requiring separate independent services the principle is the same, the utilitys including phone service should be separate, so access to the other building is no longer necessary, obviously needing access to a third party should a fault occur could potentially leave your service permanently unrepairable should a dispute with the other party make access impossible, this is the potential problem the network provider needs to consider, what if you had a fault that could not be repaired because of your neighbour, do you get the £10 a day compensation etc , it’s a legal minefield.

Really you need an Openreach survey to establish how service to the bungalow can be provided independently of the other building and preferably not encroaching on their property at all ….do you have a direct access to the public road/footpath or is access to the bungalow also dependent on the other party’s access , on which you may have been granted a right of way , in other words you can use their driveway but they own it not you .

Presumably this bungalow has its own utilities, like metered water and electricity supply , how are they provided , are they also dependent on the access to this other building that your bungalow was once effectively an annex of   ?

TBH , this may be a deal breaker  , I wouldn’t buy a property knowing of this  arrangement, for you to get an independent feed is chargable, the survey fee is a few hundred ££ , and non refundable if you don’t proceed once there is a proposal , and the costs to provide service are obviously dependent on what work is needed and if access someone else’s property is required because you don’t have a direct access to the public road , then a lengthy delay may be also required if the third party is not agreeable to the proposed work , or wants payment .
Are there any existing telegraph poles within 50-60 metres, and would you be agreeable to having a pole alongside your bungalow so a wire could be erected between an existing pole , a new pole on your land (garden) and service be brought in overhead ….this is by far the cheapest solution , but obviously there may not be any poles nearby , or with a line of sight to your building 

AndyPK

Any new phone BB contract (with purchaser) will have to be fibre, which can be routed  a different way 

iniltous

AndyPK said:

Any new phone BB contract (with purchaser) will have to be fibre, which can be routed  a different way 

That’s only true if fibre is available (FTTP that is ) , otherwise service will still be over the copper pair that in part is in effect on someone else’s property