Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Neighbours put cable into their house from my side passage (pic)

119 replies

Neighbourscable · 03/02/2019 15:53

Detached house, with one side passage 3ft wide, so my side passage has neighbours sitting room, dining room and extension along one side, my own house on the other.

[Backstory] When neighbours put their extension up the builder encroached into our side by a couple of inches, put up capping stone which extends over a couple of inches more, plus they put a vent out of the dining room into our side passage without mentioning they were going to do this.
We let this go as we didn't want to fall out with them, although there was a sharp corner where the new extension began and we asked that this be cut back at an angle.

On Friday the neighbour asked my husband if we could leave the side gate open as the cable guy was coming to fix their internet and would need to work around the area above our side gate where the cable comes out from the ground. We said ok, both of us were out yesterday morning. Neighbour was a bit fudgy about what was going on, and what happened since has me very pissed off.

When I got back I realised the cable was going to be brought along the top bit of the brown area, and then above into the lighter area. I wasn't best pleased but asked the guy if he was going to chase the cable into the wall so it coudl be covered over. English wasn't his first language but I thought I was clear. He said yes and that he would be back.

A while later neighbour called to say all done, and I went with him to look and was not pleased to see what it looked like. Hope pic attaches ok. I mentioned to neighbour that cable guy was to come back to finish it, and he said no, that was it. I explained I wasn't happy about it protruding into our space, if we caught against it bringing bins or whatever out then we'd be taking out their internet. He said that would be their problem and I pointed out it would affect us too in terms of repairs having to be done and needing to take extra care in our own side passage.

Fact is, if we'd realised what they were planning we would have said they needed to find an alternative way. In our own case we had cables brought up over the roof rather than via the other neighbour's side passage.

I know it's their house and they have a right to tv and internet, but I don't see why they should be able to do it via our property, installing something permanently that we have to be careful about. Given what happened before, I feel like they're slowly spreading into our space.

I plan on going back and asking them to follow up to have cable chased into the wall.
Or am I being unreasonable?

Neighbours put cable into their house from my side passage (pic)
OP posts:
TigerDragonMonkey · 03/02/2019 17:15

I think you are getting a hard time here OP! I suspect the cable wouldn’t have bothered you had it not been for the previous issue with the extension. The cable itself doesn’t look like a big deal, it really won’t be in your way. But, I can see why you want to put your foot down about this to make a point about your space. You are transferring you valid anger about the extension (something you felt powerless to change without a massive falling out) onto a tiny issue that you have a bit of power over. In this instance, it’s probably best to just let it go.

RockYourSocksOff · 03/02/2019 17:19

The cable wouldn’t bother me, it’s their wall.

Their extension however......

HarrySnotter · 03/02/2019 17:21

I'm not sure I understand this. I've read the thread but still.

Are you saying you're annoyed that your next door neighbours have a cable running down their own wall and that you feel it's encroaching on your property by a couple of cm?

Original poster
Neighbourscable · 03/02/2019 17:21

Thanks BoomBoomsCousin. It's one of those things where I think they decided it's easier to ask for forgiveness after (although as you say they haven't acknowledged what they did) than to ask for permission in the first place.
TigerDragonMonkey, yes, you're right, it wouldn't have bothered me except it's not the first time they've overstepped.

OP posts:
Oldraver · 03/02/2019 17:30

I think your being petty over the cable and I wouldn't be moaning

Is that your gate attached to their wall ? If you made me chase a frigging cable in the gate would be coming off

londonrach · 03/02/2019 17:31

Op....you need to sort out those few inches as your house is unsaleable now as it comeup in searches. Dont understand why you not done it before. Do your mortgage company know about this.

Barchester · 03/02/2019 17:31

Why on earth is everyone's gate post attached to the next door house? Gates can swing swing in left or right, so the original builder made a complete mess of this.

BoomBoomsCousin · 03/02/2019 17:54

The gate is attached to both houses Barchester one side where the hinges are and one side where the latch clicks into.

LynetteScavo · 03/02/2019 18:00

If you're going to fuss about their cable being on your passage space, I think they'd be quite right to complain about your gate being attached to their house.

Even I wouldn't be bothered by this.

Alexandra2018 · 03/02/2019 18:01

It's their wall!

drinkygin · 03/02/2019 18:08

Shock horror! Neighbours have small amount of cable attached to their own wall!
You’re being pathetic. You must have a very nice life if this is all you have to fret over. Lucky you.

Blackbear10 · 03/02/2019 18:10

This is insane!

With all the death, destruction and general shitness of the world you are worried about a small black cable that goes up about a foot on your neighbours wall and encroaches about 4 millimetres into your ‘alleyway’

Get a fucking grip.

It doesn’t even stand proud of the wall so fuck knows how you would actually get anything caught on it.

Is this a reverse?

Original poster
Neighbourscable · 03/02/2019 18:14

Yes Alexandra2018, it's their wall. But it's my alleyway.
We've always given them access for things like sorting the guttering, painting etc. which I feel is absolutely their right. But adding in cables that weren't there before doesn't feel right to me, especially as the cable entryway was in front before, and why were they not upfront about what they were doing instead of fudging about, the cable guy needs to get up on a ladder and it's a tight space, can you leave gate open. We never thought they'd want to put a cable behind our gate.

As to the gate, all the houses have that problem, there's only one passageway between each house so there's no option other than having a post on each house.

OP posts:
Neighbourscable · 03/02/2019 18:15

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

coffeewonder · 03/02/2019 18:18

What would happen if you damaged the cable going about your day to day business - wheeling a bike through etc. Would you be liable to pay?

Chingling · 03/02/2019 18:19

Are you sure it is on your land? Our boundary is the edge of the property- the roof overhang not the wall? So in our case we own the first 27cms on the neighbours driveway. The cable won't go beyond that- so it is on their land?

slashlover · 03/02/2019 18:19

Surely for your bins to catch it, you'd need to be scraping it against their wall?

Cheetahssitonfajitas · 03/02/2019 18:25

Jesus. Pick your battles OP - even thinking twice about this is a colossal waste of energy. If you purposefully battered at it with your bin for a solid 20 mins it would do no harm - it's a solid cable that's been tightly clipped to the wall. You would have to take garden shears to it to damage that. It causes zero inconvenience to you. It's their wall and it encroaches about 5mm into your airspace. If you seriously complain about that to them you are batshit. If you want to stir up some sort of battle, instead go at them for all the other things you say they have done, but really, don't mention this one unless you want to look like a lunatic.

PotteringAlong · 03/02/2019 18:25

The cable is a non-issue. The extension will mean you can never sell your house because as soon as that comes up on a search no one will touch it with a barge pole so you need to deal with that.

OnlyaMan · 03/02/2019 18:26

The neighbours are probably not to blame. Cable Installers work quickly and cheaply. When a "NTL World" (now Virgin Media) cable was installed at my old house, I asked the installers to do something with it to improve it's security and looks. They just waited until I wasn't looking, and did what they wanted to do in the first place.
Neither your neighbour nor yourself will ever get them back to do extra work.
If you are really worried about ripping it off the wall with a bin, then the neighbours will have to spend their own money on something to obviate that.

Cheetahssitonfajitas · 03/02/2019 18:27

And actually it's their air space. If you hang a plumb line down from the very edge of their roof, that is the boundary line.

WakeUpFromYourDreamAndScream · 03/02/2019 18:29

You're being pathetic

Ballbags · 03/02/2019 18:29

If the cable had been there when you moved in you wouldn't have even noticed it.

fromnowhere · 03/02/2019 18:33

Just don't give them access to your side alley again. They sound sneaky, which is what would annoy me more than the cable itself.
Nothing you can do now unfortunately but don't trust them in the future. Annoying.

DointItForTheKids · 03/02/2019 18:34

But if the edge of their roof is the boundary line and that 2" or whatever overhang is part of the 2" excess that they took when they built it, then they're in the wrong.

I get what you're saying OP, and as another PP has said, it's what the regulations around 'boundary face' are that's the important thing in this instance.

However, the much bigger picture seems to be a flauting of planning permission whether in or out of permitted development - if they've actually extended more than they are allowed to it's going to cause you a huge problem with the house. If the deeds need re-doing, they should be the ones footing the bill for that - and purchasing from you the 2" x however many feet of land that they took from you completely unlawfully!

I'd re-think your leniency towards them on that matter because there's huge ramifications for you if and when you ever come to sell, or that's what it looks like (from the encroachment POV). In terms of cables I'm a middle terrace so didn't have much choice but to throw the cables over the rooftop!