legal advice please

[me2]

A neighbour of mine is about to build a new property in their back garden, problem is they seem to beleive that they can bring the services [gas ,water ,electricity] across my property, now this may have been OK normally, but they have been giving me a VERY hard time recently on another matter, not much forsight on their part in this is there,can any legal forumites give me a definitive answer as to my rights on this matter please?
They do not have any easements etc to permit this!

[zumbruk]

They need an easement to cross your property. If they don't have one, they simply cannot do it.

(IANAL, but I looked all this up recently, since we live in the middle of a farm, which does not belong to me, and I was concerned about the impact of the NERC Act on my vehicular and services access.)

[me2]

Thanks for your reply zumbruk, what I was really interested in is if the utilities can force me to allow them to provide them with services, across my land.

[gilbertd]

If you tell the utility companies that they cannot install anything on or under your land, they will tell your neighbour that they can't provide service.

This applies to anything that is on or under your land. I've had a BT distribution point in my front garden since the house was built in 1977. I recently asked them if they could alter it (make it flush with the surface) as it was in the way and they told me that they couldn't do anything to it as it was on my property but they didn't have a wayleave giving them permission to have it there. They then requested that I sign a contract giving them permission to have it on my land and offered me a one off payment of £350 for my trouble. Once I had signed it and they had paid me, they then did the work I'd asked them to do.

[kenp]

me2 said:

Thanks for your reply zumbruk, what I was really interested in is if the utilities can force me to allow them to provide them with services, across my land.

You are viewing the issue from the wrong end. The utilities look to your neighbour for access. It is up to him to provide it and he can only do that with your consent unless there already is an easement. Check your deeds.

[justinp1]

kenp said:

me2 said: Thanks for your reply zumbruk, what I was really interested in is if the utilities can force me to allow them to provide them with services, across my land. You are viewing the issue from the wrong end. The utilities look to your neighbour for access. It is up to him to provide it and he can only do that with your consent unless there already is an easement. Check your deeds.

I agree.

I also agree about their shortsightedness about them giving you a hard time about another problem. What is the other problem? Is it of a similar magnitude?

You are in quite an enviable situation in that if the services need to go around your property to get to his this may cost him literally tens of thousand of pounds more.

This is a bit of a 'you strach my back and ill scratch yours' situation. Although you have asked for your back to be scratched and you got the proverbial 'two fingers'. I would be very tempted to do the same back, and be mercenary about it, by perhaps allowing the trenches to be dug etc for a suitable fee. Enough to build a small extension (of course with his consent) or a family car.

After all his property isnt going to be much use if it doesnt have a phone, electricity, water and gas!

[chrisgr31]

gilbertd said:

This applies to anything that is on or under your land. I've had a BT distribution point in my front garden since the house was built in 1977. I recently asked them if they could alter it (make it flush with the surface) as it was in the way and they told me that they couldn't do anything to it as it was on my property but they didn't have a wayleave giving them permission to have it there. They then requested that I sign a contract giving them permission to have it on my land and offered me a one off payment of £350 for my trouble. Once I had signed it and they had paid me, they then did the work I'd asked them to do.

I wonder how much they would have given you if pushed!

[gilbertd]

chrisgr31 said:

gilbertd said: This applies to anything that is on or under your land. I've had a BT distribution point in my front garden since the house was built in 1977. I recently asked them if they could alter it (make it flush with the surface) as it was in the way and they told me that they couldn't do anything to it as it was on my property but they didn't have a wayleave giving them permission to have it there. They then requested that I sign a contract giving them permission to have it on my land and offered me a one off payment of £350 for my trouble. Once I had signed it and they had paid me, they then did the work I'd asked them to do. I wonder how much they would have given you if pushed!

I thought that too. If they had come to me asking permission to put something on my land I would have pushed but it was the other way round. Right in the centre of my front lawn, about a foot back from the footpath (open plan front) was this 15 inch high joint post. I wanted to get rid of the lawn and turn it into something suitable for parking on (considering that the three of us in the house have 5 cars between us with a further one in the garage). That would have meant that the post would be in about the most inconvenient place possible. Knowing that it wasn't possible to move it, I asked them if they could make it flush with the ground so it wouldn't matter that it was there. A couple of people suggested that they might try and charge me for doing it as it was work I had requested. When they offered to pay me to allow them to carry out work I had asked them to do in the first place, I figured that pushing for a bit more might have been taking the p1ss under the circumstances! Anyway, the £350 covered the best part of half the cost of getting a man in with a digger and big truck!

[me2]

Thanks to all for the replies,I think I have got the idea, the agro they have given me may prove very costly to them.