Chorus NTL UPC Rights to run a line on your property - advice?

Smirky

Does anyone know what the story is if you want Chorus / NTL / UPC to remove the cable from your property?

I have a big fat cable looping from my neighbour, across the ground in my garden, up the other wall and over to my other neighbour.

I cancelled the service & they came out, discounnected me but left the cable trailing across the ground in ,my back garden!!!

I have called them & written to them but no response.

Antone know what the story is with this?

Smirky

OK so have just read some of the other threads on this and i surmise the following:

- Chorus / NTL / UPC have no right to leave their line on my property if I don't want it there
- I can write and ask them to remove it and they must do so (already done)
- Sometimes they try bribe you to leave it there

Is that essentially the long and short of it?

Onikage

I also have a horrible position in the cabling on my estate and have been unsuccessfully trying to get rid of the former chorus since January. Rather worryingly, every time I try to send them a hint that I really don't want their horrible cables banging off the side of my house and attracting starlings by disconnecting the cable, the cheeky buggers just come out and reconnect it when I'm at work! They don't even drop a note in the letterbox :mad:

Smirky wrote: »

Chorus / NTL / UPC have no right to leave their line on my property if I don't want it there

And don't let anyone try and convince you otherwise or they might try to claim precedent.

Smirky wrote: »

I can write and ask them to remove it and they must do so (already done)

Hasn't worked for me.

Smirky wrote: »

Sometimes they try bribe you to leave it there

Haven't heard of this one.

Smirky

Yeah, I wrote them a pretty stern letter after 6 weeks of crap with them on the phone.

I basically told them they had 10 days to respond to me ot else I would take it that i had permission to remove the line myself. Suffice to say - still no response from them!

My biggest frustration is that no-one in the company will return your call or actually has the authority to take any form of action.

Did you get any kind of response to your request for the removal of the line?

I think a solicitors letter might wake them up a bit!!

pizzahead77

You need to check whether or not UPC (Chorus/NTL) have previously been given permission to have their cabling go through your property by way of a wayleave etc.

Check this thread for a similar discussion on the topic - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055104503

GerardKeating

Smirky wrote: »

OK so have just read some of the other threads on this and i surmise the following:

- Chorus / NTL / UPC have no right to leave their line on my property if I don't want it there
- I can write and ask them to remove it and they must do so (already done)
- Sometimes they try bribe you to leave it there

Is that essentially the long and short of it?

A previous owner maybe have given them eternal permission for access...

Onikage

pizzahead77 wrote: »

You need to check whether or not UPC (Chorus/NTL) have previously been given permission to have their cabling go through your property by way of a wayleave etc.

GerardKeating wrote: »

A previous owner maybe have given them eternal permission for access...

I checked through the documentation I received when purchasing the house, there is no covenant specified with upc, chorus or whoever was there at the time. My guess is that when the estate was built 30 years ago, such things were not common in Ireland.

I've seen the thread pizzahead mentioned, this post is pretty interesting but sadly does not seem to reflect reality for me!

steveon

My advice would be to seek legal advice from your solicitor, and write to them stating you want it removed by such a date, maybe register the letter so they cannot say they havent received it. But whatever you do, do not try and remove it yourself as you could find yourself in hot water, usually Chorus action is to try and remedy the situation by agreeing with you a route across your premises and/or offer you free analog cabling if the cable going thought your property is important i.e. powering the whole estate...

GerardKeating

Onikage wrote: »

I checked through the documentation I received when purchasing the house, there is no covenant specified with upc, chorus or whoever was there at the time. My guess is that when the estate was built 30 years ago, such things were not common in Ireland.

Just because you did not get a copy, does not mean it does not exist. It was fairly standard then

But 30 years ago, it was a differrent company. Some parts of Dublin (Raheny for example) have gone through several mergers to be become part of NTL, so the documents maybe have been long lost...

seamus

The very last thing you should do is remove the cable yourself. You could find yourself in court on criminal damage charges. Contact a solicitor if you really want it removed.

This has been discussed before and and others say, if the right has been given to the company by way of wayleave then it's next to impossible to remove that permission. Generally you cannot remove the right on your own, NTL/UPC have to agree to release the right.

At the very least you can pester them enough that they'll come out and clean it up - run it across the house under the gutters or somesuch.

Onikage

GerardKeating wrote: »

Just because you did not get a copy, does not mean it does not exist. It was fairly standard then

As such a document has not been disclosed, there is no reason why I should not proceed as if it does not exist. If it happens to turn up, that's a different story. But it hasn't happened yet.

And also I don't want to interfere with the cables, which is why I haven't cut them, but I do want them taken down and I certainly don't want anyone wandering onto my property and up a ladder without permission. Seriously, how hard is it to drop a note in the letterbox?

Edit:
Found another discussion from summer '07 in the legal forum.
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055109911

Onikage

Smirky, did you manage to get any satisfaction?