Access to Pole refused by neighbour

[pnearn999]

We have had Fibre installed but cant get it turned on because the pole is a neighbours garden (in the street behind ours) and she is refusing access to it, in fact whenever I or the Openreach engineer goes round she wont even answer the door

The openreach engineers just shrug and leave but ive told them this is their issue to solve not mine, the pole is their equipment and they should be able to provide access to it. Not sure of my rights here but im into a contract,(and being charged) they cant provide service so if this cant be resolved can i demand the contract is cancelled and i;ll just go back to ADSL or satellite based

[Paul608085]

@pnearn999 

If the pole is on her property, then there should be a wayleave in place allowing Openreach to access their infrastructure.

The houses on my estate are all fed by underground cable that loops between each house in a row, appearing in a panel in the front wall of each house in turn. The deeds to my house have a clause in then granting access to this panel - as the house was built in 1980 I think it actually says "British Telecom".

A few years ago my line had a fault that required the engineer to test at each house in the row to locate the problem. One neighbour was known to cause problems with access, but they were out when the engineer knocked requesting access - so he went ahead anyway.

I asked the engineer what happens if the property owner refuses access to their panel. He told me that legally Openreach have a right of access to maintain their infrastructure, so he would have gone ahead regardless.

This engineer was a big guy and I certainly wouldn't have argued with him!

[pnearn999]

Thanks for that ! I wonder if the openreach engineers we have turn up know that (or just dont want the hassle) as they say they cant do anything about it and leave 

[iniltous]

If the pole  was originally ( legally ) sited in a private garden ( a wayleave exists etc ) but the homeowner now refuses access there isn’t much OR can do about that , it’s possible that home is now owned by someone other than the original wayleave grantor , but they don’t realise the wayleave is for the property it doesn’t lapse if the address changes hands.

OR engineers are not going to get into an argument with the homeowner, and are told to simply walk away in situations like this , OR could consider taking the homeowner to court ,but that’s pretty much the last resort.

Has the fibre DP ( called a CBT ) been fitted at this pole , if it is , how did OR get to fit the CBT  without access ( unless the CBT was allowed to be installed, but the homeowner is now just being awkward,)  or is the pole just a carrier/feeder pole and the CBT is actually fitted at a difference pole and the no access pole is just to enable a wire to reach between the CBT pole , via this pole to your home,  because it’s not possible to ‘hit’ your home directly with an overhead wire from the CBT pole.
Is there an alternative way of hitting your property, possibly by attaching to a neighbours property first , obviously that would also need permission, but you may be on better terms with that neighbour.

As far as being allowed to cancel , that should be possible if this situation persists.

[pnearn999]

so as i think i said originally an OR engineer did jump the fence when the service was initially installed (she was the 3rd one to come out and actually do anything !) but the service has now gone down again and more access to that pole is needed. the last 3 engineers that have come (last one yesterday) refused to do that so we are just in this cycle of BT support sending out OR engineers and nothing being resolved. if OR have a wayleave that gives them a legal right to access im not sure why they just wont exercise that? she never answers the door anyway so just jump the fence or access via another property (can do that via another neighbours back garden)

[Perceptive]

I have noticed that the expression; "There should be a wayleave in place" is often repeated but is there always a wayleave in place?

If there is then the householder needs to allow reasonable access.

These days there are many third party companies who pay Openreach for access to Openreach Poles and Ducts, (eg. ZZOOMM), and these third party companies then add their own cables and equipment to the mix which can cause yet more access hassles. 

When Openreach needed to dig my front garden, to allow access so that a neighbour could get FTTP, I allowed it with limited access for a 12 month period but I would not sign a wayleave.

Maybe Openreach should automatically provide hard copies of the wayleave, to the householder, via post, when/if access is difficult and leave householders alone if copies of waylieves cannot be provided by Openreach.

In this case; perhaps, Openreach can install a brand new pole in your garden, (if you give them a wayleave to do so), and then everyone for miles around can use your pole?