HELP - BT Open Reach want to dig up my front lawn, AIBU to say no

[Havingablast]

BT OR man just called round. Said he was installing a line for my neighbour but the ducts they need can only be accessed under my front lawn.

Obviously I'm not happy about them digging it up and I have stalled him for now. Any advice please?

Some people have made the point about being "nice". My own interests come first I'm afraid and I've no intention of being a walkover.

Doing the right/decent thing doesn't make you a walkover.

I'm glad you're not my neighbour. Bloody hell.

Problem solved! I had to laugh as some of you have decided I'm that PITA neighbour 😂though.

The nice BT OR man has just called round. On further details it works out that the digging could result in us losing a lovely tree we have on the front lawn (because of where the ducts are exactly located). But he said if we're not comfortable with them doing the dig they will work out another way around the problem.

They don't need to repair it. They'll cut the turf off, dig, do what they need to do, replace the dirt and put the turf back where it was. You won't even be able to notice.

What problem was there to be solved?

I wouldn't be happy... I was thinking that if you wanted to plant a tree, or dig a pond in your garden you'd be stuffed.

OTOH you'd be paid about 30p a year for the way leave (less tax, of course)!

I am assuming that your neighbours are reasonable people. I would not agree if they take illegal drugs or have any form of criminal record, for example.

I agree with insisting on the request in writing. I would require Openreach to turn up at a specific time, when I am at home. None of this practice of 'between 8 and 1' which is not an appointment and would be condoning a practice which has no regard for family life.

Why would she be stuffed?

The stuff is already under her lawn, they just want access to it.

Is this you OP?
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/stubborn-oap-leaves-neighbours-slow-7931025

They came out to do ours in January.

Had the bloke not knocked on my door when I happened to be home, I wouldn't have even known.

It was for us, but involved digging from the pavement to the house (about 4m) and you couldn't tell at all.

I wouldn't worry OP :)

But your front garden already has cables, gas pipes, water pipes and sewage pipes buried under it. That's how your house gets stuff. The electricity and gas don't just magically appear in your house. The sewage doesn't just teleport to the sewage treatment plant. It all goes through your front garden.

This is really no different.

Underground utilities and cables can be a nightmare. Especially if not for your house. Can you ask openreach if the cable can be run direct from your neighbour to the public road without crossing your land? That would simplify things for the future.

My phone line comes from next door, but it's attached to our terraced houses so we can see it..

Surprised the tree is at risk, that sounds highly unlikely. Did you just say no and use that as an excuse?

it’s so not a big deal, they just dig a trench put the sod to one side, do their job, put it all back and you can’t even tell within a few days.

you’d think he’d asked to knock your house down, 😂

But the cables are already there, it’s just upgrading the WiFi.

The cables are already under her house...

I'm with you OP, no way would I just say yes. Experience tells me that the workmen will make a pigs ear of it, do a bodge job putting it back and then it will take ages, loads of phone calls for you to get them back to put it right.

Typically these companies also want the easiest and cheapest way of doing it. I mean why would they dig up the road or pavement when they can just dig up your garden!

I can see that you have to give them access however I would make sure they follow everything to the T and take photos along the way.

The people who say you are being awkward etc have clearly never had to deal with neighbours/utility companies just doing what they like.

I had this with a utility. They had to dig up my front garden and tarmacked drive to fix a problem. They put it all back exactly how it was, even replanted the plants. The only thing you can see is a square of tarmac which they had to blend in. In my experience, they were excetional at putting it back to whatvit was

Hi no, I haven't agreed to it. He offered to try and find another solution ie to avoid having to route works via my garden which I agreed to - so I guess they will dig up the road instead - it means they have to pursue a less easy solution, but it resolve the connectivity issues.

They dug up our freshly paved driveway and filled the gap with concrete. We had an awkward rectangle of concrete from our door to the garage (About 10 metres long). No fixing it, no help from them when we complained. They said it was for our neighbour but would also help us in future if we need our wifi cables re-laid.

I had my done for my neighbour a while ago, and frankly you can't even tell.

I've been told that we'll all need to cable eventually and I'm assuming that half the work has been done now.

Whoops - didn't read the OP's post carefully enough - I didn't realise that the ducting was already there. Hope she knows its route!
I had a bit of a flashback to when we had a new garage built years back - the digger went right through our water main (we had assumed it was routed down our drive - but nope!) and there was no way of turning the water off as the stopcock in the road had been tarmacked over by the council.

The other route that will be considered is an over head one. Are there any poles around you? The likelihood is, if they can't provide via ducting they will erect a pole outside yours or your neighbours home or close by.

I'm with you OP would not want them making a mess of my lawn . Take pictures before so that you know what's what x

What a strange reply.

What are you talking about with 'my interests come first'? How would you feel if your neighbour was being obstructive? The lawn will be made good. It is now November so you are hardly likely to be having garden parties on your front lawn.

We wanted WiFi put in and got a weird email saying we had to contact the neighbour to sort out access across their garden. That turned out to be balls for two reasons: it was for BT to contact the neighbour and they didn’t need access anyway! When they came they dug straight from the street to the edge of the house.

They did a neat job tidying up but our drive is really old anyway and also of course we we are the customer. So it is a lot easier to complain if something isn’t right. There’s less motivation to fix it if you’re the neighbour.