This topic

Broadband cable

john-75 — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 19:39:58 GMT

Hi, I have come home from work to find my next door neighbour has had You Fibre install a cable running across my back garden within a meter from my house without my consent. Is this normal practice? Do I have some say in this? Thanks in advance for any help.

Re: Broadband cable

Keith_Beddoe — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 19:45:33 GMT

@john-75

What has this to do with BT Retail, you need to complain to You Fibre, whoever they are?

Re: Broadband cable

john-75 — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 19:47:27 GMT

I thought it was a chat for friendly advice.

Re: Broadband cable

Keith_Beddoe — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 19:53:40 GMT

It is, but as this is a BT Retail Customer forum, you are likely to get limited replies. It would be better to complain directly to You Fibre, and ask then to remove their cable.

https://www.youfibre.com/contact

Re: Broadband cable

imjolly — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 19:53:59 GMT

As it says at outset this is a community forum for BT residential customers to help other residential customers.

Try https://www.youfibre.com/contact/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=brand&gclid=CjwKCAjwquWVBhBrEiwAt1KmwisLE__dX54nfOECXE8THiyDCNtScQ-y_bnKRI5cXJN7aUabNsaRbRoCMCQQAvD_BwE

Re: Broadband cable

iniltous — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 20:01:44 GMT

If this company are using access to Openreach physical infrastructure ( like telegraph poles ) they are supposed to follow the same rules OR would abide by , if they were installing on behalf of BT, but as already said , it’s nothing to do with BT , or Openreach ( because although it’s likely an Openreach pole , it’s not an OR dropwire to your neighbour ) all you can do is complain to YF about their apparently poor work.

Re: Broadband cable

john-75 — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 20:38:33 GMT

Thank you.

Re: Broadband cable

Starwire — Tue, 28 Jun 2022 15:34:02 GMT

Is this cable underground or overhead via a Telephone Pole?

If underground then they should not have dug across your land without your consent and a wayleave agreement, I’d contact a Solicitor immediately and take legal action.

If it’s Overhead then the ‘Flying Wires Act’ applies.

As it says, they have the right to put a wire up over your garden but it must be at least 3m off the ground and 2m from the house/building.

You say it’s 1m away therefore they’re in breach so put in a complaint and they’ll have to move it.

‘Power to fly lines

10 (1) Subject to paragraph 3 above and the following provisions of this code, where any

[F38 electronic communications apparatus] is kept installed on or over any land for the

purposes of the operator’s [F39 network], the operator shall, for the statutory purposes,

have the right to install and keep installed lines which—

(a) pass over other land adjacent to or in the vicinity of the land on or over which

that apparatus is so kept;

(b) are connected to that apparatus; and

3 metres above the ground or within 2 metres of any building over which

they pass.

(2) Nothing in sub-paragraph (1) above shall authorise the installation or keeping on or

over any land of—

(a) any [F38 electronic communications apparatus]used to support, carry or

suspend a line installed in pursuance of that sub-paragraph; or

(b) any line which by reason of its position interferes with the carrying on of any business [F40 (within the meaning of section 6 of this Act)]carried on on that land.’

Re: Broadband cable

Bernie533 — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 17:07:12 GMT

@Starwire Where you say 3 mtrs above ground or within 2 mtrs from any building does the 2 mtrs mean above the building or distance from it (as in passing my building as it approaches my neighbours).

Re: Broadband cable

WSH — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 17:27:40 GMT

You are unlikly to get a reply. The post was from 2022 and I have not seen Starwire post in a long time.

@iniltous or @36ULW may be able to help.

Re: Broadband cable

Bernie533 — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 17:40:57 GMT

Ok thank you for letting me know. I will hope that some else you have tagged may be able to help.

Grateful for your response

Re: Broadband cable

Bernie533 — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 17:41:57 GMT

Ok thank you for letting me know. I will hope that some else you have tagged may be able to help.

Grateful for your response

Re: Broadband cable

36ULW — Sat, 30 Aug 2025 07:19:50 GMT

To be honest when I was a CST I rarely had to deal with stuff like that as it was always usually dealt with at Survey/Planning Stage.

As far as I can remember they can run cables over private property as long as:

They don’t need to access your land to do so.

The cable is a minimum of 3m from the ground.

The cable is 2m from any building. I assume that's to the side as well as above it.

The cable doesn’t interfere with an existing business operation.

So they couldn’t put a cable 3m off the ground over an existing farm track where you’ve got Combine Harvesters coming in and out. Also it’s existing business operations. If say 10 years down the line you opened a grain store at the back of your house and trucks suddenly needed to access it you would still be liable for Repayments on a Network Rearrangement Order, aka you’d have to pay to have the lines moved or rerouted.

Also the business clause can be very difficult one. I remember years ago someone who owned a Hotel that overlooked the sea. Openreach put up a cable span between two existing poles, which then obscured said sea view. How much I don’t know, a standard Drop Wire 11/12/15 was about 5 or 6mm in diameter so it couldn’t have obscured it that much. The Hotel was complaining it affected their Business as guests couldn’t get a, ‘good’ sea view photo.

Never did find out the outcome of it but the Hotel was threatening to take Openreach to court. Whether they managed to find a Solicitor willing to take on the case I don’t know.

Re: Broadband cable

Bernie533 — Sat, 30 Aug 2025 07:48:55 GMT

Many thanks for replying. We live in a semi detached house and a cable has been ran from a pole to our next door neighbours house. They have attached it to the soffit area of our neighbours house and it runs along the front of ours to get to theirs. My concern with it being so close to the side of house is that it would be in the way of things like ladder access to get soffits or gutters cleaned or if we needed to have scaffolding for any reason. Maybe I am being unduly concerned though.

Re: Broadband cable

iniltous — Sat, 30 Aug 2025 09:21:46 GMT

As stated in the original reply , this has nothing to do with BT , even if the ISP your neighbour is using is BT , a neighbours drop wire just being close to your property isn’t reason enough to have it moved , it would have to be interfering with something like the opening of a window for example and then it can be a case of careful what you wish for, if the existing serving pole location means the angle of the wire to your neighbour is always going to cause the wire to be close to your property ( I’m sure the location of the fixing on your neighbours property wasn’t chosen just to aggravate you but was the most appropriate one to allow service from the pole ) then if it was necessary for Openreach ( not BT ) to relocate the wire away from your property because you had a valid complaint, (even that assumes it’s Openreach , there are dozens of other providers that use Openreach poles as with the OP , it was You Fibre not Openreach ) then solution is often a new pole placed outside your and your neighbours houses so the angle the wire approaches your neighbours house is changed by ‘bouncing’ off this new pole , so you get the wire moved away from your house at the expense of a new ‘feeder’ pole placed in the footpath outside your and your neighbours houses

Re: Broadband cable

Bernie533 — Sat, 30 Aug 2025 09:26:27 GMT

Thanks for replying. Am not trying to be awkward about it, was just wanting to make sure it has been done properly to avoid any future roof access issues. Am grateful for your comments and thoughts.

Re: Broadband cable

iniltous — Sat, 30 Aug 2025 09:40:22 GMT

I appreciate you are not being awkward, I’m just presenting a potential outcome ….but as stated if there is a genuine issue with the placement of the dropwire for a neighbours service, that Openreach (assuming it’s Openreach) are responsible for , often the ‘cure is worse than the disease’ replacing a potential issue ( like possible interference should the guttering need work ) to something clearly worse , a new telegraph pole that the complainant sees every day outside their window irrespective of the gutters needing work , obviously I’ve no idea if this would be the case here , just something to be aware of …in that situation, a request to go back to how things were by removing the pole and replace the neighbours wire as it was , wouldn’t be entertained…it’s just food for thought

Re: Broadband cable

Bernie533 — Sat, 30 Aug 2025 09:40:23 GMT

Very insightful and appreciated (yes it was Openreach that installed it yesterday).