BT underground junction box within my property boundary and road name sign

[Choccoholic]

We want to place a fence around our property. There is an ancient wire fence and it is not actually located on the edge of our boundary, but 50 cm inside our boundary. It turns out the council placed a street name sign on our property. I‘ve have just written to them to get it moved. And then I started thinking about the underground BT junction box located in the same vicinity. We were looking to box it in when we place the fence, but I don‘t actually understand why it is there. We have been in this property since 2005 and it‘s always been there. Last year they butchered my hedge and made a real mess of the area around the box, which is my property. I left phone messages with their complaints line, but got no response. We don‘t even use BT. Can I get them to move it? And how do I do this?

 

[mattylad]

How are you so sure that the property boundary is where you think it is?

 

[johnny2007]

If it's in your property you should charge them rent.

 

[motorbiking]

Boundaries need additional measurements to be anything more than accurate to the nearest meter. Be careful not to und up in an expensive dispute with openreach

 

[Choccoholic]

How are you so sure that the property boundary is where you think it is?

We have boundary stone wrapping around the house. It‘s basically one line that starts at the drive at the front of the house and continues around the entire property. Other neighbours have used the same demarcation to place their fences. The demarcation seems to tally up with with the boundary visible in the deeds. The property was orchard once upon a time. The wire fence and pretty hawthorn hedge seem to be relics of that time.

 

[jj4091]

Pretty sure they will be able to claim historical rights to the land the box is on when you have left it this long. Personally I would not get too stressed about it.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

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Presumably they need access to the box. If you don't maintain the hedge then they're entitled to chop it back.

Having said that, I do know that BT (Openreach) pay people who have their poles on their land. They may do for cabinets too, may be worth looking into. You definitely can't get it moved, but you may get a few quid rent for it.

 

[Choccoholic]

How are you so sure that the property boundary is where you think it is?

Checked and double checked the deeds. Both our within our boundary. The pavement is wide enough to accommodate a sign. I think someone was lazy and saw and opportunity to not have to drill holes into tarmac.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Last year they butchered my hedge and made a real mess of the area around the box, which is my property. I left phone messages with their complaints line, but got no response. We don‘t even use BT. Can I get them to move it? And how do I do this?

The rules recently (a decade or more) changed, but if they have made exclusive use of the land, with no objections made by you for several years, then they can claim the land as their own.

 

[mitch66]

20 years for a prescriptive easement I think. Motorbiking will know the details I guess..

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

20 years for a prescriptive easement I think. Motorbiking will know the details I guess..

Thanks, I think it used to be 10 or maybe 13 years..

 

[Choccoholic]

Thanks, I think it used to be 10 or maybe 13 years..

Interesting. And thank you both for the tip. Reading here it appears that the right needs to be earned without stealth, I.e. permission needs to have been granted. But permission was not granted and the box didn‘t appear in our searches and it isn‘t recorded on the deed. https://www.crombiewilkinson.co.uk/site/blog/news/prescriptive-easements

 

[securespark]

I know that in 1960, when the builder started our estate, the pavement was bordered on one side by the road and on the other by a thin strip of grass. Next to this was built a dwarf wall, behind which was the front garden.

Some houses have claimed the grass strip as part of their front garden and some like ours, have not.
A neighbour told me that claiming the strip of land meant waiting a certain number of years after buying the house before claiming it, but there being a time limit after which the strip belonged to the council for evermore.

Whether this is accurate or not, I don't know.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I know that in 1960, when the builder started our estate, the pavement was bordered on one side by the road and on the other by a thin strip of grass. Next to this was built a dwarf wall, behind which was the front garden.

Some houses have claimed the grass strip as part of their front garden and some like ours, have not.
A neighbour told me that claiming the strip of land meant waiting a certain number of years after buying the house before claiming it, but there being a time limit after which the strip belonged to the council for evermore.

Whether this is accurate or not, I don't know.

My understanding, from when I did this many years ago, is that you would need to maintain your exclusive use of the section of land, for the set number of years, without the owner raising any objection. Having met that criteria, you can then make a legal claim to own the section of land, which I did.

In my case, the section was a narrow triangle of land 50 yards, by 10, bounded by a railway fence along the 50 yards, but unfenced at the 10 yards open end and owned by the local council. I added a fence along the 10 yards, and built a summerhouse, limiting the only access to via my back garden. 15 years later, I put a legal claim in for it, which was granted, this after the council came out, and attempted to prove I had not met the conditions. This was pre-GoogleEarth.

The triangle gets very much wider, beyond my back garden, is bounded by the disused railway land on one side and houses on the other, with no other access, so the council eventually fenced it all in and designated it a nature reserve. At one time, it was rented out for cultivation, but those neighbouring the area, would help themselves to what ever was grown there

 

[noseall]

I know that in 1960, when the builder started our estate, the pavement was bordered on one side by the road and on the other by a thin strip of grass. Next to this was built a dwarf wall, behind which was the front garden.

Some houses have claimed the grass strip as part of their front garden and some like ours, have not.
A neighbour told me that claiming the strip of land meant waiting a certain number of years after buying the house before claiming it, but there being a time limit after which the strip belonged to the council for evermore.

Whether this is accurate or not, I don't know.

No. The utilities companies have ongoing easement right whereby they can dig up the (1.8m or so) margin of land betwixt the carriageway and the owners border in order to run cables/pipes/ducting etc. If people want to widen their drive and thus pave over the grassed verge, in order to reach the road without driving through mud, they must instal demarcation edgings.