View Full Version : Wrongly installed cable pipes
geezer717
03-08-2005, 20:14
Hi 1st post, hopefully this is in the right place. I purchased some land from my local council which was next my house with the intention of fencing it off etc and making it into a garden, I got all the utility plans from the council to make sure I wouldnt dig through any pipes then as I was digging the fence post holes CRACK straight through a pipe containing the streets cable line which needed repairing. Upshot of the story is, The pipes arent in my deeds, the pipes dont appear in the council records, there is a poorly installed access point which cable engineers need regular access to, to pull through new cables etc but its all on my land and theyve told me to leave them access by building my fence around it even though they appear to have received no permission to be there. I was tempted to contact their planning dept and ask them to either remove their illegally laid pipes from my land or offer me some kind of subsidy from my bill (maybe free broadband subs) in exchange for granting them access. Does anyone know who best to contact as customer service are clueless buffoons :D
simpsonsFAN
03-08-2005, 20:27
Do you know if the cable lines are definatly owned by telewest? I find it hard to belive that a cableco would have walked into your garden and started laying there cabling for your street on your property!, normally its done with street manholes labled "CATV", going to a green cab at the end of the street.
It could just be a cable going through your garden from the street cabling up only your house, if this is the case.. I cannot see what the problem would be if you just canceled your telewest services and dug up all the cable?
-Chris
geezer717
03-08-2005, 20:29
Do you know if the cable lines are definatly owned by telewest? I find it hard to belive that a cableco would have walked into your garden and started laying there cabling for your street on your property!, normally its done with street manholes labled "CATV", going to a green cab at the end of the street.
It could just be a cable going through your garden from the street cabling up only your house, if this is the case.. I cannot see what the problem would be if you just canceled your telewest services and dug up all the cable?
-Chris
No, the install was done whilst the land was still owned by the council and allegedly the pipe services around 12 households (according to the engineer), it does go to a green box (i watched em pull out the cable I chopped and re feed a new one today :erm:
Do you know if the cable lines are definatly owned by telewest? I find it hard to belive that a cableco would have walked into your garden and started laying there cabling for your street on your property!, normally its done with street manholes labled "CATV", going to a green cab at the end of the street.
It could just be a cable going through your garden from the street cabling up only your house, if this is the case.. I cannot see what the problem would be if you just canceled your telewest services and dug up all the cable?
-Chris
he bought the land off the council so they was already there
oh and :welcome: geezer:)
MovedGoalPosts
03-08-2005, 20:32
:welcome: to Cable Forum :D
When you purchased the land, did you have a solicitor do any of the checks (searches) to ensure the land was free of encumbrances such as easements for services which might pass over or under the land. Did the Council tell you that the land was free of encumbrances. It's always a case of buyer beware, and it's not necesarily the council that will know where services are, often even the suppliers aren't that precise either.
If the service is allowed to be there, but the checks you should have made did not show it up you will have to lump it. If checks were made by a solicitor or the council and they concealed facts, or did not find somethign they should have, you will have a legal claim against them.
If the service should not be there, it may depend on how long it has in fact been there, without objection by the council, as the previous owner of the land, as to whether rights of passage have arisen due to lapse of time (adverse possession).
Only if the service should not be there, and has been there for only a few years, could you have a right to demand it's removal, or a fee for the passage over your land. Whilst the fee may not be substantial. I would expect it to be greater than a subsidy off your current bill, since you would effectively be preventing enclosure and private use of the parcel of land, and moreover, the fee would reflect that you couldn't even pave or plant over the area (other than perhaps grass) since the utility company would expect to have ready access in the event of a problem.
geezer717
03-08-2005, 20:44
Hi thanks for the welcome. There was a solicitor check done and there were no liabilities tied to the land this is also stated in the purchase contract, ill get the solicitor to look into it further.
zoombini
03-08-2005, 22:38
Methinks that rather than replacing the cable, it should have been moved instead.
Methinks that rather than replacing the cable, it should have been moved instead.
I think you have a point there. Mate go back to your solicitor and see if he can "unearth" any wrong doings here.:dozey:
IIRC when Comtel was installed locally the cables from the green box seemed to go under all the pavements with a small "cat" cover outside each property. It sounds to me as if the cable installers got lazy and put pipes under the grass verges instead of the path. There should be some record of what they were planning to do with your local "highways" authority which may not be the same as the authority you bought the land from.
zoombini
05-08-2005, 18:30
If the cableco want access to this point, then perhaops they need to foot the bill for the extra involved in making the fence go around it, or start paying rent for the use of the land & your inability to fully use your own property.
IIRC when Comtel was installed locally the cables from the green box seemed to go under all the pavements with a small "cat" cover outside each property. It sounds to me as if the cable installers got lazy and put pipes under the grass verges instead of the path. There should be some record of what they were planning to do with your local "highways" authority which may not be the same as the authority you bought the land from.
It's nothing to do with being lazy, if the ducting for the cable is put under the pavement you will also find it will go under grass verges instead of the pavement, this kept the cost down as it was quicker to do this. Also the council would have agreed to the route of these as well. As has been mentioned if this has been done, and no one has objected to this, and it has past twelve years then i'm afraid it's tough. Also if the solicitors didn't pick this up on any searches then they must be liable. Then again this all could be a genuine mistake, but the cost to get this moved and disruption it would cause, it's not going to be moved easily.
__________________
No, the install was done whilst the land was still owned by the council and allegedly the pipe services around 12 households (according to the engineer), it does go to a green box (i watched em pull out the cable I chopped and re feed a new one today :erm:
Don't think it's clever cutting a cable that is providing a service to someone.:disturbd:
MovedGoalPosts
05-08-2005, 20:30
No, the install was done whilst the land was still owned by the council and allegedly the pipe services around 12 households (according to the engineer), it does go to a green box (i watched em pull out the cable I chopped and re feed a new one today :erm:
Don't think it's clever cutting a cable that is providing a service to someone.:disturbd:
It was hardly done deliberately. Indeed he'd been more than responsible before starting anything by having checked with the council that the land was free of services.
It was hardly done deliberately. Indeed he'd been more than responsible before starting anything by having checked with the council that the land was free of services.
Do you know it wasn't deliberate?
Raistlin
05-08-2005, 21:19
Do you know it wasn't deliberate?
I got the impression that it wasn't deliberate from reading this but of the post:
I got all the utility plans from the council to make sure I wouldnt dig through any pipes then as I was digging the fence post holes CRACK straight through a pipe containing the streets cable line which needed repairing. Upshot of the story is, The pipes arent in my deeds, the pipes dont appear in the council records,
You are reading the same thread as everybody else aren't you?
I got the impression that it wasn't deliberate from reading this but of the post:
You are reading the same thread as everybody else aren't you?
Just testing your paying attention:o:
Raistlin
05-08-2005, 21:21
Just testing your paying attention:o:
Testing that I'm paying attention? Oh, right, thought you were testing something else for a second there ;)
</Raistlin>
:welcome: to Cable Forum :D
When you purchased the land, did you have a solicitor do any of the checks (searches) to ensure the land was free of encumbrances such as easements for services which might pass over or under the land. Did the Council tell you that the land was free of encumbrances. It's always a case of buyer beware, and it's not necesarily the council that will know where services are, often even the suppliers aren't that precise either.
If the service is allowed to be there, but the checks you should have made did not show it up you will have to lump it. If checks were made by a solicitor or the council and they concealed facts, or did not find somethign they should have, you will have a legal claim against them.
If the service should not be there, it may depend on how long it has in fact been there, without objection by the council, as the previous owner of the land, as to whether rights of passage have arisen due to lapse of time (adverse possession).
Only if the service should not be there, and has been there for only a few years, could you have a right to demand it's removal, or a fee for the passage over your land. Whilst the fee may not be substantial. I would expect it to be greater than a subsidy off your current bill, since you would effectively be preventing enclosure and private use of the parcel of land, and moreover, the fee would reflect that you couldn't even pave or plant over the area (other than perhaps grass) since the utility company would expect to have ready access in the event of a problem.
The fault lies with your solicitor.
All Cable Co's had/have a national licence to place equipment in the public highway, this grassed area whilst in the ownership of the council would have been deemed public highway.
When you applied to claim ownership of this land, your solicitor should have applied for a stopping up order. This order would/should have been sent to all utilities (unfortunately people don't realise that cable co's are statutory utilities) asking them if they had any objection to the order.
The cable co would have then initially objected, that's not to say you wouldn't have bee able to buy the land, access agreements etc would have been formalised or you would have had to pay to have the duct diverted out of the area you wished to purchase.
As it stands the cable co has a right to be there, and any damage you cause to their equipment you will be liable for. If you want to develop the land you will have to pay for the equipment to be diverted.
Unlucky.
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