Telephone wires over my land
Maurice
While I have sorted this out amicably with my neighbour I would be interested to know where we all stand. Am I obliged to do anything at all? Could I be liable for any costs? Do BT have to find a solution that doesn't involve pruning the tree?
--
Maurice
Ben Harris
Maurice <uk.legal....@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>My neighbour's phone line is supplied from a telephone pole on the opposite=
> side of the road we both live on and his line crosses our frontage at quit=
>e an oblique angle passing through a tree growing in our garden. The line =
>has been rubbing on a branch of the tree and caused a problem with his phon=
>e line due to the wear. The engineers have managed to fix this at no cost b=
>y using an alternate pair in the cable. If the situation was to continue I =
>presume the cable would need to be replaced at some cost.
>
>ed to know where we all stand. Am I obliged to do anything at all? Could I =
>be liable for any costs? Do BT have to find a solution that doesn't involve=
> pruning the tree?
BT's rights in this area come from Schedule 2 to the Telecommunications
Act 1984:
<http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/12/schedule/2>
The important bits are paragraph 9, which lets them install apparatus
over streets, and paragraph 10, which lets them fly lines over
third-party land connected to that apparatus.
Paragraph 19 of the code gives BT the right to lop trees where they
overhang the street and interfere with their network, so if the problem
were over the street that would apply. Assuming that the problem is
over your land, though, there seems to be nothing BT can do (or require
you to do) to your tree. In effect, by flying a line over your land,
they have to take your land as they find it, tree and all.
Even if the problem were over the street, the lopping of the tree would
be at BT's expense and they might have to pay compensation for the
damage to the tree.
--
Ben Harris
Saxman
They will replace it at no cost to you.
Do them a favour by pruning the tree when it happens again or allowing the
engineers to do it. It will prevent your neighbour from being without a
'phone line.
Ste
> My neighbour's phone line is supplied from a telephone pole on the opposite side of the road we both live on and his line crosses our frontage at quite an oblique angle passing through a tree growing in our garden. The line has been rubbing on a branch of the tree and caused a problem with his phone line due to the wear. The engineers have managed to fix this at no cost by using an alternate pair in the cable. If the situation was to continue I presume the cable would need to be replaced at some cost.
>
> While I have sorted this out amicably with my neighbour I would be interested to know where we all stand. Am I obliged to do anything at all? Could I be liable for any costs? Do BT have to find a solution that doesn't involve pruning the tree?
I presume ownership of the line rests with BT, and that the tree has
grown significantly since the telephone lines were fitted. Don't quite
me, but I would indeed assume that you have some responsibility to
prune the tree, or at the bare minimum allow it to be pruned by BT to
prevent further ongoing damage.
Roland Perry
<2b1794d5-7caa-4abd...@glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com>
, at 17:10:02 on Mon, 9 May 2011, Maurice <mo.c...@gmail.com>
remarked:
When this happened to me (the tree was in the pavement, so probably
belonging to the council) BT came and replaced the cable; or dropwire, I
think the correct expression is. Didn't cost me anything. About a year
later the council trimmed the tree, and all the others in the street.
They managed to do this without breaking the wire.
--
Roland Perry
steve robinson
No its not your problem its BTs
Again no you cant be held liable for any costs
Bt may offer to prune your tree back , you do not have to allow them
to do so if the tree is entirely on your land .
What bt may end up doing is putting another pole in closer to your
neighbours property
steve robinson
The op has no responsiblity to BT does not have to allow them to
prune the tree either , up to BT to find another solution
steve robinson
> In article
> <2b1794d5-7caa-4abd...@glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups
BT also have to make sure any tre they decide to lop is not protected
Nightjar <"cpb"@
They could also underground the line from the existing pole.
Colin Bignell
Dave
The tree probably predates the telephone line, so it is up to the line
owner to gain permission to come onto the land their line crosses.
I live in a rural location and the company that owned the 3 phse line
that crossed someones land had to get permission for them to prune the
tree.
In the deeds to the property will be something along the lines that the
owner has to allow wires to pass over, or even through the property. I
know mine does.
Dave
Dave
But that sort of action would put up the cost of all telephone lines.
Dave
martin
Only in the short term. In the longer term it's better they run
underground, if this forces the issue the neighbor will get a better
line than the guy with the tree, better internet down it, and it won't
need replacing for 25 to 50 years.
Paul - xxx
No, you're not obliged to do anything, it's not your problem. If the
point where the problem occurs is over your land BT have to get your
permission to do anything. However, as you've sorted it amicably with
the neighbour, why don't you be an even better neighbour and just prune
the offending branch(es).
--
Paul - xxx
Maurice
--
Maurice
Allan
> My neighbour's phone line is supplied from a telephone pole on the opposite side of the road we both live on and his line crosses our frontage at quite an oblique angle passing through a tree growing in our garden. The line has been rubbing on a branch of the tree and caused a problem with his phone line due to the wear. The engineers have managed to fix this at no cost by using an alternate pair in the cable. If the situation was to continue I presume the cable would need to be replaced at some cost.
>
> While I have sorted this out amicably with my neighbour I would be interested to know where we all stand. Am I obliged to do anything at all? Could I be liable for any costs? Do BT have to find a solution that doesn't involve pruning the tree?
If you have someone else's BT wires running over your land, you may get
some money from BT. This happened to me a while ago, and BT offered me
a yearly amount, or a one-off amount if I waived the right to future
annual payments. It wasn't a huge amount each year, but I think I got a
cheque for about £140 as I opted for the one-off amount. The note that
came from BT with the cheque said "Please find attached cheque in
payment of your Wayleave".
Allan
sid
> My neighbour's phone line is supplied from a telephone pole on the opposite side of the road we both live on and his line crosses our frontage at quite an oblique angle passing through a tree growing in our garden. The line has been rubbing on a branch of the tree and caused a problem with his phone line due to the wear. The engineers have managed to fix this at no cost by using an alternate pair in the cable. If the situation was to continue I presume the cable would need to be replaced at some cost.
>
> While I have sorted this out amicably with my neighbour I would be interested to know where we all stand. Am I obliged to do anything at all? Could I be liable for any costs? Do BT have to find a solution that doesn't involve pruning the tree?
>
I had another pole put in that changed the angle of the wire. This
didn't cost me anything as they said the way the pole was situated was
not up to standard anyway (they have a maximum distance and it was over
that).
Maurice
--
Maurice
Maurice
--
Maurice
Peter Crosland
news:1a7852c5-bb1a-4cd6...@glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com...
Standard BT answer that has no legal force. Your neighbour needs to speak to
someone higher up in BT.
Peter Crosland
steve robinson
So would some cag handed linesman lopping off branches .
If tree lopping isnt done correctly you can cause a lot of damage not
only to the tree but to adjacent buildings , not unkown for houses to
suffer heave when trees are cut down or heavily pruned back
The cost of replaceing a like for like mature tree can run into many
10's of thousands of pounds .
Far cheaper to stick another pole in or mole out the ground
sid
I had about 300ft of cable replaced from the house to the pole, a tree
was close to the wire and a branch came off and took the line with it.
It happened more than once and they added another pole in the end to
move the wire away from the tree. I didn't pay for any of it.
Saxman
<st...@colevalleyinteriors.co.uk> wrote:
> The op has no responsiblity to BT does not have to allow them to
> prune the tree either , up to BT to find another solution
I used to be a telephone engineer, so I have some experience with this
matter.
The tree was probably planted after the telephone wire was erected. I
don't think BT would route it through a tree? Therefore, I think the
owner of the tree has some responsibility in agreeing to some pruning.
OTH nobody has to have third party wires over their land. Commonsense
should prevail, otherwise there would have to be a pole outside
everybody's property.
It certainly will not be re-routed underground. Far too expensive for one
pair of wires.
Saxman
> If you have someone else's BT wires running over your land, you may get
> some money from BT. This happened to me a while ago, and BT offered me
> a yearly amount, or a one-off amount if I waived the right to future
> annual payments. It wasn't a huge amount each year, but I think I got a
> cheque for about £140 as I opted for the one-off amount. The note that
> came from BT with the cheque said "Please find attached cheque in
> payment of your Wayleave".
You are probably referring to a large cable in this instance.
Humbug
<john.h....@btinternet.com> wrote:
>On Mon, 09 May 2011 20:10:03 +0100, steve robinson
><st...@colevalleyinteriors.co.uk> wrote:
>
>
>> The op has no responsiblity to BT does not have to allow them to
>> prune the tree either , up to BT to find another solution
>
>I used to be a telephone engineer, so I have some experience with this
>matter.
>
>The tree was probably planted after the telephone wire was erected. I
>don't think BT would route it through a tree? Therefore, I think the
>owner of the tree has some responsibility in agreeing to some pruning.
BT lines are fairly robust.
Here's what happened when the local council had a tree pruned outside
my house:
<http://www.moreofthesame.co.uk/images/tree.jpg>
>OTH nobody has to have third party wires over their land. Commonsense
>should prevail, otherwise there would have to be a pole outside
>everybody's property.
>
>It certainly will not be re-routed underground. Far too expensive for one
>pair of wires.
The telegraph pole shown in my photograph has aluminium wire from the
bottom to the top, as was common at the time when it was installed.
BT has no intention of replacing it, despite the fact that it
demonstrably cannot reliably support broadband data.
--
Humbug
Humbug
BT added a new cable from the top of the telegraph pole to my house.
I was surprised at how quickly it was done (at no cost to me).
It worked for a couple of weeks until the aluminium wire from the
bottom of the pole to the top corroded again.
--
Humbug
Saxman
> The telegraph pole shown in my photograph has aluminium wire from the
> bottom to the top, as was common at the time when it was installed.
> BT has no intention of replacing it, despite the fact that it
> demonstrably cannot reliably support broadband data.
Aluminium cable should support broadband? There's still a lot of it
around. Obviously it has not got the same qualities as copper. Aluminium
cable is no longer used, but it will take many years to replace all of it.
Humbug
It can support broadband, but not *reliably*.
At the time it was installed, Aluminium looked like a Good Thing; it
was (then) cheaper than Copper, had slightly less resistance, but
slightly higher capacitance (which wasn't a problem for telephony).
However, Aluminium cable reacts particularly badly to changes in
temperature and humidity.
One specific issue is oxidation of the surface in IDC connectors.
This is what caused my BT broadband connection to fail every few
months, and it generally took ten days to get an engineer to come out
with a Krone tool to make a repair.
On one occasion it had actually failed again before the engineer drove
away ...
That time he had to go to the top of the pole to fix it.
And it failed again a couple of months later.
--
Humbug
Saxman
> On one occasion it had actually failed again before the engineer drove
> away ...
> That time he had to go to the top of the pole to fix it.
>
> And it failed again a couple of months later.
Whenever aluminium cable was used on a pole termination block, it was
practice to piece it out with copper, so that the aluminium wasn't crushed
by the termination screws.
Sound like your engineer is a bit ham-fisted?
isabella...@gmail.com
> My neighbour's phone line is supplied from a telephone pole on the opposite side of the road we both live on and his line crosses our frontage at quite an oblique angle passing through a tree growing in our garden. The line has been rubbing on a branch of the tree and caused a problem with his phone line due to the wear. The engineers have managed to fix this at no cost by using an alternate pair in the cable. If the situation was to continue I presume the cable would need to be replaced at some cost.
>
> While I have sorted this out amicably with my neighbour I would be interested to know where we all stand. Am I obliged to do anything at all? Could I be liable for any costs? Do BT have to find a solution that doesn't involve pruning the tree?
>
> Maurice
I have discovered that BT have run our telephone cable all the way up the back garden attached to our fence. Very strange place to run a cable. What happens if the fence falls or we need to move the fence?
Saxman
1. You're not obliged to do anything. Your line is BT's responsibility
up the the main socket.
2. Strictly speaking the engineer should not swap wires in a 'drop
wire', especially if it is damaged.
3. The wire on the fence might have been provided temporarily to give
you or your neighbour service. Strictly speaking this is not allowed
(especially where the public are allowed access), but common sense has
to prevail. A sense of goodwill should prevail as well, especially with
tree pruning on private property. The engineer should have explained this.
You could enquire with BT as to whether your fault has been 'closed'. If
not, then BT should return and make good.
rmla...@gmail.com
Robert
Martin Brown
> On Sunday, May 15, 2011 at 9:15:02 AM UTC+1, Saxman wrote:
>> On Sat, 14 May 2011 00:55:02 +0100, Humbug <hum...@tofee.net>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> The telegraph pole shown in my photograph has aluminium wire from
>>> the bottom to the top, as was common at the time when it was
>>> installed. BT has no intention of replacing it, despite the fact
>>> that it demonstrably cannot reliably support broadband data.
>>
>> Aluminium cable should support broadband? There's still a lot of
>> it around. Obviously it has not got the same qualities as copper.
corrode badly when in contact with other metals that are not aluminium.
The oxide layer creates a crude semiconductor diode which rectifies the
RF signal and totally destroys ADSL signal integrity.
A neighbouring village has this problem. A "fast" landline broadband
connection there is any download speed above 0.25Mbps. Clannet have been
mopping up these disastrous North Yorks not spots with their microwave
link service.
>> Aluminium cable is no longer used, but it will take many years to
>> replace all of it.
>
> Weight for weight (but not volume for volume) aluminum is a better
> conductor than copper is. That's why it's used for electricity
> transmission.
metal that causes serious trouble and ruins signal quality. It isn't too
bad if new and dry but ageing damp cables simply do not work for ADSL.
--
Regards,
Martin Brown
wsj...@gmail.com
There are restrictions to the power of OpenReach to fly lines above neighbouring land (para 74), a requirement that they provide appropriate notice set out in this Schedule (Para 75), and a power of objection (para 78). Grounds for objection include explicitly (but are not limited to) the enjoyment of your property and interest in it is capable of being prejudiced by the installation (see Schedule 1, Part 11, Paragraph 77 (6)), or if the installation does not replace any electronic communications apparatus which is not substantially different from the new apparatus or is not in a significantly different position (see Schedule 1, Part 11, Paragraph 77 (7)).
In any event, lines must pass at least 2m from any building and 3m above ground at all times, and the right to install a second or subsequent connection to a single property is not necessarily covered.
Alasdair X
Brian Reay
house, back in 1997, it had a high conifer hedge which only just cleared
the wires. I mentioned this to the seller. He told me that someone (either
BT or the power company, I can’t recall now) had knocked on the door a few
years before and asked if they could trim the trees.
We had the hedge removed shortly after moving in and have replaced it with
one I keep to about 6 ft so the problem hasn’t reoccurred but I have seen
workers trimming a lot of trees in the road every now and then.
newshound
this. My phone line used to go through a neighbour's tree, I think BT
replaced the wire a couple of times. They certainly didn't do anything
about the tree (apart perhaps from a very local trim where the wire went
through).