This topic

Possible BT line on derelict property

LukeSilvan — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 10:05:43 GMT

Hey folks,

My partner and I are interested in a derelict property and I have been told by the owners that a line was installed there in the early 90's and has not been used since and the 'old croft' is now a complete ruin. I'm wondering if there's an (ideally free) way to get the line tested or find out if we'd need to upgrade it etc were we to purchace the ruined property. The potential costs involved etc as part of our budgetting?

Re: Possible BT line on derelict property

Keith_Beddoe — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 10:26:30 GMT

@LukeSilvan

The line would be the property of Openreach, not BT Retail.

Until you place an order for a phone line, nothing will happen. Openreach will only act if they receive an order from a provider.

Do you intend to place an order with BT Retail?

Re: Possible BT line on derelict property

LukeSilvan — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 11:03:21 GMT

Ah hi Keith,

I kind of assumed they were the same company but I guess not, I guess I should enquire with OpenReach then?

Yes I would be going with BT Rental as I always have done in the passed.

Re: Possible BT line on derelict property

LukeSilvan — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 11:09:06 GMT

Hmm I've checked with Openreach and got this message when I put in the postcode for said property:

"

We're sorry, our fibre products aren't available for you yet. We don’t have plans to upgrade your area yet to our fibre services, but you may still be able to get our Standard copper products - check with your provider of choice.

"

Re: Possible BT line on derelict property

Starwire — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 11:25:16 GMT

If the line has been unused for 20+ years chances are it’ll be disconnected at the Distribution Point, aka Black Box on top of the Telephone Pole.

Openreach don’t provide any kind of service where they go and and test old and unused lines.

As the property has had no working service for so long when you place an order it will require an Engineer Installation Appointment, they will then change out any old/faulty wiring as needed on the installation.

Re: Possible BT line on derelict property

Keith_Beddoe — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 11:40:50 GMT

@LukeSilvan wrote:

Ah hi Keith,

I kind of assumed they were the same company but I guess not, I guess I should enquire with OpenReach then?

Yes I would be going with BT Rental as I always have done in the passed.

@LukeSilvan

When you are in a position to place an order with BT Retail, then please do the following :-

Place an order for a line only using this link - https://www.bt.com/landline/deals

If the address doesn't appear properly when you enter the postcode, there is a section underneath where you can manually enter the address. This will raise the order with the address showing as bronze and it will prompt Openreach to carry out a survey to confirm the routing. Once the routing is updated the order will then progress as normal. You can then add broadband once you have the line up and running.

Re: Possible BT line on derelict property

LukeSilvan — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 12:27:49 GMT

Thank you so much for your swift help Keith,

Would you care to take the roughest guess at any kind of vague figure I could put into my costing spreadsheet? 🙂

Re: Possible BT line on derelict property

LukeSilvan — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 12:30:44 GMT

Thank you Starwire, that's great to know so I'm not wasting my time chasing people 🙂

Would you care to take any roughest vague guess as to costs involved?

Re: Possible BT line on derelict property

Keith_Beddoe — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 12:42:51 GMT

@LukeSilvan wrote:

Thank you so much for your swift help Keith,

Would you care to take the roughest guess at any kind of vague figure I could put into my costing spreadsheet? 🙂

If there was a route, then it probably still exists, so there would be no extra charge apart from the standard installation fee.

You would be told if there was likely to be an additional charge, before you proceed with the order, however there are plenty of people like yourself in the same position, and no extra charges have been raised.

I would not be concerned at the moment, as @Starwire has said, it would just need an Openreach appointment, which is standard procedure in these cases.

Re: Possible BT line on derelict property

iniltous — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 12:47:02 GMT

If the address had service in the past, and is a properly registered residential ‘dwelling’ ( so the address is registered with the Post Office and is liable for council tax etc ) , then any order would be progressed in the same as any other , and for the same price , so depending on the provider and the services taken , possibly ‘free’.

Its possible that the usual lead times won’t apply if work by Openreach is required , but provided the ‘construction’ costs don’t exceed the USO ( universal service obligation ) which was around £3400, (that in itself was based on 100 man hours) , and AFAIK this figure has never changed, so basically the chances are the cost to provide service would be around £130 , a regular install price, and probably less, the potential issue is much more likely to be that you order service, an OR engineer cannot install because of the lack of lineplant, and OR retrospectively install the lineplant .

Re: Possible BT line on derelict property

grahamm1 — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 13:02:34 GMT

If you are worried that you might not be able to get fibre, you should be aware that Openreach's website may not be completely accurate.

I've had BT FTTC for years. The village I live in is littered with green Openreach cabinets with stickers proudly proclaiming that “Superfast Fibre is here”, but if I type my address into the Openreach site, I get “We're sorry, our fibre products aren't available for you yet”.

Probably best to check with one of the providers.

Re: Possible BT line on derelict property

LukeSilvan — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 13:08:23 GMT

Thank you @iniltous 🙂

That bit "the potential issue is much more likely to be that you order service, an OR engineer cannot install because of the lack of lineplant, and OR retrospectively install the lineplant ." went over my head haha, sorry?

You mean lineplant as in laying a new cable?

Re: Possible BT line on derelict property

LukeSilvan — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 13:46:56 GMT

@grahamm1

Ha yes I lived on the west coast of Scotland for a long time where they said fibe couldn't and wouldn't be installed in the near future yet a bunch of folk seemed to have it ! 😕

Re: Possible BT line on derelict property

iniltous — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 16:22:13 GMT

No one has said anything about fibre, any obligation to provide service in the short term is premised on it being a copper pair, potentially from a cab that has FTTC and the distance from the property to it being short enough to benefit, so FTTC may be available , it’s unlikely that FTTP will be available.

Lineplant is just a term for underground and overhead equipment ( ducts, cable, dropwires etc ), depending on how the property was serviced previously ( overhead or underground ) then the original method may be reinstated....however, it’s likely that if you raise an order , because the address is ‘matched’ to existing lineplant , then the order goes through, and even if you ( assuming you place the order in person rather than on line ) point out that extra work may be required, the chances are the customer service rep falsely reassures that it will be OK on the day, but the OR tech turns up, discovers work is required and passes to OR survey/planning to come up with a solution, that’s where the potential delay could be, on the other hand , the previous service may be serviceable and easy to reinstate ( assuming whoever told you the property had service previously was correct )

Its not that unusual orders failing like this, imagine a ‘regular’ property that had ‘BT’ service in the past but has used a cable provider for the last decade, and the ‘cable’ service installer cut the BT service off, saying you will never need this again....new occupant moves in , doesn’t want to use ‘cable’ but an Openreach based provider...obviously when the OR installer turns up there may well be a delay as the existing cut cable is no longer any good and replacing it needs more work than the installer can deliver.

Only if the property is quite remote from any existing OR lineplant and has never had service before would excess construction charges be a worry.