Openreach cables on my land obstructing essential house maintenance

[yellowhat09]

Hello! Just wondering if anyone's ever had a similar situation and the outcome. We've moved to a new house which has a number of telecoms poles serving houses down the road - not a problem, except for the fact that we have 3 cables running over our land which serve neighbouring houses (a couple run directly in front of the first floor window and another in line with the guttering). The cables pass horizontally infront of my home, approx 80-100cm away. Two of them run right outside the first floor window, while the third is in line with the guttering.

This makes carrying out essential maintenance work like guttering, roof work, exterior painting, even window cleaning really challenging and some maintenance jobs will be impossible to do as the cables run too close. There is no way to move them further away from my property, the cables would need to be relocated. Luckily there are other telecoms poles on the road already, including one even closer to the houses being served by the three cables infront of my home.

I have contacted Openreach and they have said I need to pay for a survey to see what the costs of relocating the cables would be.

But this doesn't seem right to me:

• they have run the cables in a way that obstructs my property, meaning I can't carry out maintenance jobs on my own home
• the cables run across my land to serve third parties, not even my own home
• no other houses down the street have cables obstructing their properties like this
• there is a telecoms pole opposite my neighbours which both of the other two properties could be connected from, which wouldn't obstruct any properties

I'm finding Openreach impossible to navigate. First they said to report to Network Relocation Team, who said it's not their remit and to report to the Damage Team, then the Damage Team said to go back to Relocation Team, who are now trying to charge me for a survey to look at the cables.

Any advice would be incredibly appreciated.

Thank you!

What did the previous owner do??

Ask on the Garden Law forums. They give very good and legally-correct advice. MN is usually a mixed bag, to put it nicely.

Thanks that's really helpful! How can I move the post or would I just make a new post on the garden forum? Thank you!

No idea, we didn't really think anything of it when buying (were FTB), until we realised after moving in and needing some guttering work that they're in the way for maintenance jobs.

It's a separate website, you'd need to sign up there and post: https://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/index.php

Presumably your property is well maintained? So it didn’t stop previous owners and that might be open reach’s stance

Guttering work just needs a ladder?

I can highly recommend using Which Magazine Legal Dept. Used this twice previously with successful outcomes each time. You just pay a yearly fee and you get to speak with the expert on your problem, they guide you through any legal process and supply you with template letters. It doesn’t matter if your case precedes you joining. It’s worth phoning them .

Sounds like the person who directed you there is directing you to another website, not mumsnet, maybe Garden Law forum?

In amongst all the tools under the google search bar, there is now one called "forums" that you can use. It is endlessly helpful to search old internet forum posts for problems people have already resolved.

Are you seriously saying this prevents a window cleaner from cleaner your windows? Or a ladder repairing a gutter 🤔

Yes at points the cables pass the front of my house just 20-60cm away so parts of the front are inaccessible by ladder. And actually it's a part where the guttering has actually fallen away and needs replacing, which the previous owners didn't do. I keep looking around at other houses down our road and other roads and I've not seen any cables with the arrangement infront of mine.

And overground?

Can you take a picture?

Is there a wayleave agreement in place. If they have equipment on your land and it serves properties other than yours then they need a wayleave agreement. They may have paid the previous owners for it since they either pay a one off fee or an annual fee. If they've paid the previous owners there is no entitlement to further payment.

We have openreach cables on our land plus a pole and a couple of junction boxes and were paid about £2500 for it when we realised.
I believe that they may have a statutory right to keep the equipment there if there is no other way of serving the properties. It's something your conveyancing solicitor ought to be asked about.

Speak to an RICS wayleave and easement surveyor.

This is the legislation you need to quote at the operator.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/21/schedule/3A/paragraph/74/data.xht?view=snippet&wrap=true

"operator has the right, for the statutory purposes, to install and keep lines which are not, at any point where they pass over the other land, less than three metres above the ground or within two metres of any building over which they pass."

Have you actually been turned away by these trades?

I only ask because we have the same situation and we get our windows cleaned by a guy on a ladder and we've had our fascias soffits and gutters replaced in the last year. No one has ever mentioned it...

OP, I'm a tradesman (electrician) - less and less trades are now happy to do jobs like guttering off a ladder for insurance and safety reasons.

I still do works off a ladder now and again, BT cables are something I routinely remove, relocated, adjust etc.

A common job is soffit replacement, the wire often is screwed to the soffit. With the required skill it can be unscrewed, and let fall to a draped rather than tensed state and then re-instated often to a slightly different position.

If they run past as you describe a bit of wood with a V cut in the end can be used to temporarily shove and prop them clear whilst working.

But I'll stress you need to be sure they are telephone cables and not mains supply cables that are a whole other ballgame.