Installation Dispute

[carlk73]

Hi,

I live on the top floor of a converted house and had cable installed, with the cable running up the side of the house. The neighbour downstairs is unhappy with the cable being there. Would Telewest be able to re-site the cable, say at the end of the wall, rather than in the middle where it is at the moment? Would this be charged?

Thanks,

Carl

[Nemesis]

You will need to contact them directly, but I would assume that it is a chargable piece of work.

[zoombini]

Has the neighbour given a good reason for being unhappy about the cable?

Are there any agreements or wotsits in place defining services & access?

If the cable was not there, what other way is there for the cable to go to reach you?

[paulyoung666]

might this be an expensive job if they had to repull back to the cabinet :erm: , anyway :welcome: to the site :)

[carlk73]

I think the downstairs neighbour is just a bit house proud. It's an end of terrace property and the cable runs up the middle of the side wall into the lounge of my top floor flat. She's a leaseholder of the flat so I'm not sure what her rights are, or mine for that matter.


Thanks for the replies.

[MovedGoalPosts]

An easement (legal right) is usually needed to route a service across property not within your demise (demise = the bit that you control exclusively).

It depends on how your lease works whether effectively you have the demise of the entire upper part of the building, and the leaseholder below, the lower half. Alternatively, you may only have exclusivity to the interior of the building with the exterior and grounds effectively being common parts, ultimately controlled by whoever owns the freehold.

Many leases will contain clauses an mutual obligations on other leaseholders that creat the easements for the standard services of water, drains, gas electicity. Often they will deal with telephone too. Frequently cable is not covered, especially if your lease is a little old. That can creat a problem.

If an easement is needed, this can only be created by a lawyer. and requires the intevention of the freeholder as it is changing the existing documents. Theoretically a payment to those who are granting the easement, i.e. those who might have "a loss", might be needed in "compensation". Realistically this would all be rather petty for a single cable, but stanger things happen with neighbour disputes.

I would have hoped that Telewest would have checked the easement was in place. Chances are you have confirmed it was in place based on the small print of any installation contract you signed.

I the cable has to be repositioned or even removed, it will be at your cost. That is unless you can show you originally asked the installer to route it differently but you were ignored.

[humey]

When BY were TW long ago i was visitied by them befrore the tv/phne was avail and asked by staff if i would allow cable to run up outside wall of building, i said what if i say no, i was told then nobody upstairs cant get cable, LOL.

I told them to keep it tidy and run up behind drainpipe, later on i was one of 1st in area to get and later again i seen cables run up my building for upstairs but not hidden behind drainpipes but ugly black kinda cover/guard thing about 4" wide.

[Ignition]

When BY were TW long ago i was visitied by them befrore the tv/phne was avail and asked by staff if i would allow cable to run up outside wall of building, i said what if i say no, i was told then nobody upstairs cant get cable, LOL.

BY are a brand name of Telewest, their internet products go under the name Blue Yonder just as ntl's internet products are ntl:home broadband.

Same company, slightly different brand name, that's all.

[atlantic-crossin]

I personaly work in customer care for Telewest, It would be down the the impression of the situation you give over the phone.
Reading your issue there would be no charge at all.
Call out charges are £75 for custom requirements.
However this situation is beyond your reasonable control and unless you have spoken to all members of your building (Not always possible due to them being on holiday etc...). Telewest would take this into consideration.

You would have been charged £75 if it was a sole owned property because it would be only you affected and at the time of install you would have signed a form to state you would have been happy with the way the installation went.

But as this is your neighbours affected we would be able to come back out free of charge for you.
However if several call outs regarding the same issue then a charge would be applied to cover the call out as it would have been your resposibility to ensure the 2nd time the technician was called out would be performing the job to satisfy your self and your neighbour.

Sumarised:
No it would be free of charge, please ensure you advise the customer care rep. that you live in flat/house divided by other tenants otherwise a call out charge will be applied.

** If the call out is found to be a house by a technician and not a property of multi tenants then the technician will report this back to his Team Manager where a £75 charge would be applied - for any others thinking of trying to fool the system**

Types of Free Call Outs...
Neighbours Complaints of poor workmanship
Loss of Signal to the property due to cabling outside property
Vandalism to cabling outside property.
(example: wires cut, pulled and ripped etc...)

Hope this helps

[spike7451]

I'm a NTL tech in Ireland & this is how i read it.
Over her (and i assume it is the same all over the uk) if you are in a council flat upstairs & the downstairs tennant doesnt own her flat,then she has no say in the install as the council has given the cable company blanket permission to install.
If she does own it,then BEFORE it is installed,a wayleave certificate has to be obtained from her.
If she has bought the property AFTER the install,her issue is with the council.
M