tom_gr7
Life Serving
Hi All,
Wonder if anyone can point me in the right direction... thanks in advance.
I live in a small town in the north of England and we our own property. In our town a smallish company called Youfibre is building a FTTP network.
Im currently getting a dismal service from sky and I work from home. So naturally I have signed up for this for a 1gbps connection. (only 27 quid for 18 months!) We’ve been waiting a few months now whilst the company build the network etc.
The company have recently been to our address, had a look around and explained that they wish to put the fibre cable in the same ducting as our normal BT phone line. This makes complete sense and would be easy to do. Our house was built in 2010 so all cabling is underground anyway.
Unfortunately, part of the ducting is blocked and the blockage happens to be under the neighbours drive. The blockage would prevent my neighbour and my property from getting FTTP.
The blockage on the drive is at the very end of a plain concrete drive and only one foot over the boundary between the two houses. I live at the end of a row of ten houses and to get to our drive we have to cross over two neighbours drives. So their drives are shared. Ours at the end isn’t.
Anyway, my neighbour who happens to a manager of a housing association and is also currently selling his house is being very difficult in allowing permission for the company to dig a small hole to repair the ducting. – The ducting that already holds my and his telephone cabling.
When the workers first asked him he immediately refused and shut the door on them. The workers tried to get some cabling/rods down anyway, but to no avail.
I managed to talk to the neighbour later; I explained to him what they were trying to do and what the problem was. Anyway, he openly told me that he doesn’t have to agree and the company can take him to court if they wished to. I told him that if it was our water, gas, electric etc he wouldn’t be able to refuse and he said that internet isn’t essential. He also told me that virgin media asked him 18 months ago and he flat out refused then too. (I had previously asked Virgin for FTTP)
His wife also chipped in and suggested that they can’t agree as the new buyer has already agreed to buy. I asked if he could speak to the new buyer and see if they would agree or not. We usually get on well and have done for many years. So it was surprising to find that he was being so difficult.
anyway, the next day he told me that the new owner and he will only agree if they can supervise the work, if the work is tidy and the hole that is made is small. I can understand where they are coming from, but it’s a solid concrete drive and the hole would be filled in with concrete anyway. So its not as if its not going to match etc.
I'm quite a tactful person, so i was thankful and polite etc. Obviously, not wanting to provoke a negative response. I'm hoping that it will go ahead.
However, My question is that I am concerned that my current neighbours and the new neighbours could later change their minds and don’t allow/stop the company from doing the repair work for the ducting and install the cabling.
What are my rights in this case? I asked the company this and the call taker just said it would be above his head and it would go up to management.
Ideally we would have liked to live in this house for another 10-15 years and it wont be long until FTTP is essential and FTTC is obsolete. So it doesn’t seem fair that someone can stop someone else accessing a utility like FTTC indefinitely.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Can I ask the company to take him to court?
Can I see a solicitor and take him to court myself? Obviously this would cost me and probably impact/delay the sale of his house.
Thanks for the advice.
Wonder if anyone can point me in the right direction... thanks in advance.
I live in a small town in the north of England and we our own property. In our town a smallish company called Youfibre is building a FTTP network.
Im currently getting a dismal service from sky and I work from home. So naturally I have signed up for this for a 1gbps connection. (only 27 quid for 18 months!) We’ve been waiting a few months now whilst the company build the network etc.
The company have recently been to our address, had a look around and explained that they wish to put the fibre cable in the same ducting as our normal BT phone line. This makes complete sense and would be easy to do. Our house was built in 2010 so all cabling is underground anyway.
Unfortunately, part of the ducting is blocked and the blockage happens to be under the neighbours drive. The blockage would prevent my neighbour and my property from getting FTTP.
The blockage on the drive is at the very end of a plain concrete drive and only one foot over the boundary between the two houses. I live at the end of a row of ten houses and to get to our drive we have to cross over two neighbours drives. So their drives are shared. Ours at the end isn’t.
Anyway, my neighbour who happens to a manager of a housing association and is also currently selling his house is being very difficult in allowing permission for the company to dig a small hole to repair the ducting. – The ducting that already holds my and his telephone cabling.
When the workers first asked him he immediately refused and shut the door on them. The workers tried to get some cabling/rods down anyway, but to no avail.
I managed to talk to the neighbour later; I explained to him what they were trying to do and what the problem was. Anyway, he openly told me that he doesn’t have to agree and the company can take him to court if they wished to. I told him that if it was our water, gas, electric etc he wouldn’t be able to refuse and he said that internet isn’t essential. He also told me that virgin media asked him 18 months ago and he flat out refused then too. (I had previously asked Virgin for FTTP)
His wife also chipped in and suggested that they can’t agree as the new buyer has already agreed to buy. I asked if he could speak to the new buyer and see if they would agree or not. We usually get on well and have done for many years. So it was surprising to find that he was being so difficult.
anyway, the next day he told me that the new owner and he will only agree if they can supervise the work, if the work is tidy and the hole that is made is small. I can understand where they are coming from, but it’s a solid concrete drive and the hole would be filled in with concrete anyway. So its not as if its not going to match etc.
I'm quite a tactful person, so i was thankful and polite etc. Obviously, not wanting to provoke a negative response. I'm hoping that it will go ahead.
However, My question is that I am concerned that my current neighbours and the new neighbours could later change their minds and don’t allow/stop the company from doing the repair work for the ducting and install the cabling.
What are my rights in this case? I asked the company this and the call taker just said it would be above his head and it would go up to management.
Ideally we would have liked to live in this house for another 10-15 years and it wont be long until FTTP is essential and FTTC is obsolete. So it doesn’t seem fair that someone can stop someone else accessing a utility like FTTC indefinitely.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Can I ask the company to take him to court?
Can I see a solicitor and take him to court myself? Obviously this would cost me and probably impact/delay the sale of his house.
Thanks for the advice.
