Hi, there is a virgin media green street cabinet on my land and it's taking up a part of my back garden. I'd like the box removed as I am renovating the garden and the wall. I did not consent for the box to be installed on my property and nor did the previous owner as there is nothing in writing. Please can someone advise. Thank you.
ps: not sure what I should be selecting in the 'Select Board' options above.
I meant to mention that I have been holding on for over half an hour to get through to the Virgin Media Works Team on 0800 408 0088 and still holding.
Post some photos of the cabinet and surrounding area.
Try the email and link here
from a similar topic in March.
Usual process for this type of request is VM charges you a survey fee (around £250 has been reported in the past) and then prepares a quote which could realistically be a 4 or 5 figure sum or VM may decline to do anything if VM thinks it has a right for the cabinet to be there.
As I mentioned, I did not consent for the box to be installed on my property and nor did the previous owner as there is nothing in writing from Virgin Media.
Thank you Roger.
Various things need checking. Are you sure it’s your land, have you checked the deeds? Was the cabinet on your land when you bought the property? Is so the previous owners may have given VM a wayleave to place the cabinet there. It could be very very expensive to get it moved.
Yes, I have a picture of my deeds that show it's my land and there is no wayleave. I have never had any communication from Virgin Media and not has the previous owner, as we asked them when they moved out. I have been in communication with VM Customer Services for many years asking them for this request and have kept on getting fobbed off. It is now time for me to get my garden done and that incorporates having my land back.
Hi SonalMistry,
Thank you for your posts and welcome to our community forums. We're here to help.
I'm very sorry to hear that there's a dispute placement of one of our cabinets. Would you mind providing a photo of the cabinet in question and its placement, please? Once we have more information we can begin to assist further.
Thanks,
As Number-6 has said above, you will not get any satisfactory answer back from VM. If you want anything done, you will have to force the issue by going legal. But VM will fight it all the way.
Yes but do they win when they go all the way. Reputational risk too.
Virginmedia have no reputation to lose. Check out Trustpilot, and the Ofcom ratings. They don't care.
Multiple request from VM for photos of the street cabinet have been ignored.
A pity.
This is your opportunity ...
As Number-6 suggests above this would be best dealt with by a specialist solicitor who should find it a straightforward matter - the main problem wou!d be to resolve the issue of having his/her correspondence being thrown straight into the nearest bin.
The onus is on VM to provide evidence of the wayleave agreement which has to be signed by the property owner with real ink on real paper. Then the onus is on them to provide evidence of the granting of planning permission - you may wish to contact the relevant Planning Department yourself to check up on this.
To date VM have responded to you with the usual bluster and if you fail to go away it would be miraculous if they took the decision to brief a solicitor to fight the case at County Court and you would win by default with legal costs and compensation and of course costs for removal of the lousy box.
The decision of how to proceed is of course up to your good self but bear in mind that VM will delay and pontificate and obstruct in the hope you will go away.
Good luck with it
When the green cabinet was installed it's highly unlikely the property owner at the time would have been okay with this and not flagged it up.
Is it possible your house is ex council owned and would mean that permission would have been granted by the council and would then apply to the private owners after or that at some point the land where your garden was communal?
Let's be clear about this. You will not get anything done here because the VM staff who see it have no authority whatever to do anything. The best they could do is take your details and send them to another department which will ignore them.
If you really want to get something done you will have to engage a solicitor to collect the relevant data and write a formal letter to VM head office.
Hello. Sorry for not replying sooner. I don't check a chance to check the forum chat. Thank you all for your help and advice - some good questions and tips. Some answers to your questions:
1) Photos of box attached show only an approx 1metre movement forward is needed. There is plenty of room around.
2) Snip photo of my land on my deeds which does not show an indent where the VM box is situated. Box is situated within my land.
3) The property is not ex-council and never has been.
4) No right of way has ever been granted by us as the landowner nor the previous elderly owner as we asked him. Nor has there ever been any exchange for payment for the erection of the cabinet box.
5) I will check and research when VM think they gained the legal right.
