went outside this morning to discover a box has been installed on my property instead of on the path, we were not asked for consent and there is no logical reason to put it on our land. Others in the road are on the path. Does anyone have contact info for the correct department as the automated answering of the phone line is absolute xxxx. There is no identifying box number. tx
Virginmedia don't publish contact numbers for their construction contractors.
Your best bet is to mention the postcode here and wait for a VM person to pick it up and pass a message
Thank you, Post code is RG12 8LZ. A neighbour has caught the contractors vehicle, including reg number, on her door cam… they were gone within 40 mins and sped off fast… they knew they shouldn’t have done it.
Forum TeamHi jenncr
Welcome to the Community Forums.
Sorry to hear of your concerns with a cabinet placement. The placement of cabinets are planned in advance alongside the local council, and it is the local council who will have granted permission to have the cabinet installed where it is placed. This is usually decided and agreed upon due to the cabling infrastructure that's already in place.
Have you spoken to your local council yet to dispute the placement? If so, do they also agree that this strip of land is within your property?
I had one placed outside a previous house of mine as well, but in that instance, it was located just in front of the wall, still on public land. These installations don’t require planning permission—something allowed under policies introduced by a previous government.
In your case, however, it appears to be on your property. You may need to have it relocated or consider negotiating a rental agreement for the land it's on.
Are you sure on the boundary line for your property?
yes, my boundary is up to the edge of the path, I checked my deeds.
The cabinet is on a service strip, which is usually part of the public highway, and owned by the council. Some residents take it upon themselves to cut the grass on the service strip directly outside their property to keep it tidy - but it's not legally their land.
Looking the photo, is that a “Water” marking on the footpath? It could be pipes under where the cabinet should be?
Green paint, so telecoms not water. Looks very like "VM" on two sides of the manhole, and lines running both sides. May be more digging soon.
Main utility lines typically run under the highway or public footway (preferred) and service connections branch from the main to properties, so what you say is no evidence that the service strip belongs to you. Also deeds don't show the exact legal boundary line to the millimetre, especially when it comes to verges like these.
And here's a further thought: if you actually own the land but failed to fence it off for 33 years, then you've probably lost ownership or exclusive rights through adverse possession or highway adoption. You are not going to win this argument with VM and the council.
complete rubbish - there are many private properties that fences or walls at the garden edge facing the road are not allowed by the council - certainly in my part of the world - its done so as to keep a uniform look to estates - people usually take not a blind bit of notice and councils tend not to enforce it but its there
The boundaries are clearly marked on the land registry papers which were included in our deeds and we have a copy from when we purchased the house 33years ago. We have a wall that was built by the original builders set back one metre as agreed with local regs. We have plants and shrubs in the strip further along. The council have agreed they made the error and the strip of land does belong to us. In the meantime VM’s contractors have now come out and wired it up doh! even though it’s going to be moved. Roger you are talking a lot of rubbish…
VM will ignore you as they have started by doing the wireing - they are experts at stringing things out in the hope you give up - posting on here is not a direct line to anybody of note or authority - the VM people are part of the social media team trained to be polite - appologise send PM's and do little just like all in CS - the difference with staff here and the numpties in the offshore call centres is that staff here do have some knowledge
so where will this go - sooner or later staff will pick this up - they will take it to PM for details of an address and pass it up the food chain to the area manager - thats the end of step one - they will then bow out
the area field manager is then likely to ignore the request again in the hope you give up - so you are back here for another apology and to go round the loop again
so imo dont bother with any of that - you have a statement from the council - its them you want to be talking to - they [wrongly] gave permission to VM to put the box there they need to withdraw that permission - without that happening expect nothing
and talk to citizens advice about your legal rights - offer to allow the box on there for a VERY large amount of rent a month/year if you want
so to sum up if you leave it here - nothing will happen - speak to the council and be prepared to go legal otherwise you have a new permanent feature on your land
