To think a Solicitor might be able to help with this or am I wasting my time?

[girlfriend44]

I have been housing a BT openreach signal box on my house wall for many years. (wayleave agreements for anyone who dosent know)
BT are supposed to have an agreement with you if you have their property on your land as our people who supply electricity pylons etc.

It turns out through investigation that there was never an agreement in place for a box to be on my property all these years.

Openreach have offered me about £200 for all those years ive had the box plus agreeing to keep it on the house going forward?

You are not allowed to remove the box yourself otherwise you can be charged with malicious damage in order to get the £200 you have to agree to keep the box up there forever.
Everything is on their side and the payment is crazy, not to mention if i hadnt investigated it would never have come to light.

They agree the payments are low but say thats the most they will offer. I can fill in a form and get the payment and be done with ti.
OR
Would it be worth me contacting a solicitor to see if they can negotiate a higher payment or am I wasting my time.

Anyone had similar or know?

What happens if you say no.....do they take the box away?

you can ask for the box to be removed but you dont get any payment.

All I can offer is that I recall years ago seeing a Wayleave payment in an account (I worked for HMRC) and it was £30 pa to a farmer for having a bloody enormous electricity pylon in one of his fields.

I suspect you will get no more that their offer - all this will have been established legally way back in the day. Would cost a lot in Solicitors fees too.

I think you should definitely employ a solicitor, an expensive one. Think of the money.

Does your house insurance have legal cover? I would ask for an annual payment (like a lease) rather than a one off.

🤣

Bitchy much?🙄

Or just ask them to remove it?

My friend had a substation on her property they needed to dig up her drive to get new cables in.. she got a brand new drive, but had to agree to have the substation there for life. Personally I would've asked them to move it as it hummed

I'd ask for it to be removed in the hope that they may come back with a better offer. £200 is chicken feed in the grand scheme.

I’m curious if these boxes draw any power from your property? Does it cost you anything to have the box there? I know nothing about them, just wondering if that needs to be a factor.

“It turns out through investigation that there was never an agreement in place for a box to be on my property all these years.”

What actually happened?

Look, you either agreed to it yourself - or you happily took on a house with it in situ.

Do you need compensating retrospectively? I doubt it. You didn’t have a problem agreeing to it in the first place, or accepting it - whichever is the case.

They’re not going to give you more money because of a solicitor 🤣

Sure, hard ball and ask for more if you want. I think it’s money grabbing though, despite it being grabbing against a big corporate.

One of our past gardens hosted a wooden telephone pole for which we received a miniscule "rent" from BT. I can't remember how much it was, but single figure every five years.

You get bugger all for wayleaves. They're considered necessary infrastructure. It's about £25 for a telegraph pole.

I'd take the £200 with gratitude.

I'd tell them to shove their box up their a*se.

I get £27 for three electricity pylons pa. I believe it's a set fee. I'm also a solicitor non practising and you would be wasting your time. The only issue you might have is if you wish to extend and it's in the way.

Yes but you are, let's face it, full of pent up rage and looking to get it out. OP just wants money.

This is true, lol, @Untitledsquatboulder

exactly just dont answer if you havent got anything interesting to say. So pathetic.

There is a company that keeps writing to me because we have a pole in our garden that carries an electricity cable, so we should be getting a wayleave payment. You can apply for a wayleave paynment from the utility company yourself but they claim to get much higher payouts for householders, though they take a slice. It might still be worthwhile as apparently they can run into thousands. They are called Thomson Broadbent, based in Corby.

The only thing I can think of is if there never was an agreement in place in the first place then whatever they have attached this box to, or wherever they have installed it is criminal damage surely?

There was no agreement ever in place.

Its only come to light because i chased it up?

They can come and remove it you cant touch it, dosent make sense because they then have to find somewhere else to put it and get another agreement in place and pay someone else?

good question about the power?

Dont think so but dont know? Will find out.

Its unsightly though. Also they have to come onto your property to gain access. They are supposed to get permission which they dont always.

Either take the £200 or get it removed.

With any utility, wayleaves are paid at a set rate either annually or a 1-off payment. It is incredibly rare for them to be negotiated and yes, they are quite low.
Most people just take the 1-off payment. Utility companies have so much plant out there that negotiating each & every application would be a mammoth task.

Don't know what a "signal box" is but legacy plant doesn't draw power locally as they are served from the exchange (which is why your old fashioned telephone works during a power cut).