Does a wayleave exist?

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Páid

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I have checked the land registry and there is no record of an easement or wayleave registered against my house. I think it was built in 1982 and I've owned it for about 17 years.

A cable company has very untidy cables running across the front of my house and I wish to have them removed. I am not worried about never being able to avail of their services. I believe RTE originally got house owners to sign a wayleave back in the day but this would have been signed by the previous owner (if they did at all).

If a wayleave was signed by a previous owner are successors bound by that wayleave even if it was never registered against the property? Could it be registered now, decades later?
 
I am of course mindful of my neighbours but that really has nothing to do with it.
 
What does the solicitor who conducted the conveyance have to say about the matter? If a wayleave was registered, it and any other encumbrances, mortgages, orders registered against the property should have been drawn to your attention. IANAL.
 
Nothing mentioned during conveyancing. It wasn't registered then and it's not registered now.
 
Thanks but I haven't answered my own questions. If the original wayleave agreement exists could it be registered now almost two decades later?

I suspect the vast majority of these agreements were never registered against properties because that would have been an additional expense. Are they enforceable now given that the house ownership has changed and the company owning the network has changed multiple times?
 
You didn't sign it, it's not registered against the property which you seem to have bought clear of any encumbrances, so why not approach whoever you think owns the wires and say you want them removed, at their expense of course?
 
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I had NTL/UPC/Virgin cables across my eaves.

No mention of any wayleaves when buying or selling the house.
 
They wrote to me stating that they want to upgrade their network in the area and they will need to enter my property. I'm not sure how wise that is given the current restrictions. I'm not inclined to let them on to my property at all for a number of reasons.

mathepac said:
You didn't sign it, it's not registered against the property which you seem to have bought clear of any encumbrances, so why not approach whoever you think owns the wires and say you want them removed, at their expense of course?
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I intend to ask them for a copy of the wayleave agreement. If it exists and I am bound by it then I have to abide by it. If they cannot produce it I believe am perfectly entitled to refuse them entry.
 
From their Terms and Conditions hidden away on their website.

5.2 In order to perform our obligations under this Agreement and in consideration of the Services provided to you, you hereby grant us such licence in respect of your land, buildings and premises (‘your land’) as is necessary for us (including our employees and authorised representatives) to provide the Services to you and our other customers, including but not limited to, from time to time, upon giving you reasonable notice (save in any emergency) to enter those parts of your land to install, maintain, adjust, repair, replace, renew, upgrade, inspect or remove, and to keep installed and to operate at or on your land, Equipment and/or telecommunications apparatus. You will at your own expense provide or procure whatever further rights over your land we require from any landlord and/or successor in title and/or any other person with an interest in your land whose consent is legally required to enable us to exercise the rights over land granted pursuant to this paragraph and you will enter into any necessary additional documentation to give effect to the grant of such rights. Each party shall at all times comply with all reasonable instructions of the other party or any third party in relation to the exercise of any rights over your land obtained in accordance with this paragraph.

5.3 Your failure to comply with paragraph 5.2 may result in withdrawal of the Services and termination of this Agreement, and if this happens we will be entitled to continue to enter upon your land to enable us to provide the Services to neighbouring customers and/or remove all or part of our Equipment.
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Thankfully I have never been a customer and never signed up to these terms.
 
Páid said:
I am of course mindful of my neighbours but that really has nothing to do with it.
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It kind of does. What solution are you expecting the company to propose that will not impact your neighbours? Prepare for some downtime for your neighbours in terms of TV and possibly Broadband for people who may be working from home if you require the cabling to be removed.
Why are you having an issue with this now after 17 years living in the house? Why didn't you follow up immediately after purchasing the house?
 
It doesn't and the neighbour issue really is not relevant. It's not a utility like electricity, water or gas. I have no responsibility to provide my neighbours with TV or internet or to provide access to land in order to enable that. That's between the provider and the customer - I'm a third party.

Cable companies run cables over ground because it's cheaper (and uglier). Because I pay my mortgage every month that gives me the right to tell a private company not to drill holes and attach things to my walls and soffits.
Why are you having an issue with this now after 17 years living in the house? Why didn't you follow up immediately after purchasing the house?
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Who said I didn't? The issue that has prompted this is that they wish to carry out upgrade works now and I am not happy to allow that to happen.
 
Páid said:
Thankfully I have never been a customer and never signed up to these terms.
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Their only case arising from those terms would be with the former owner, assuming they signed such a contract at the time. You can't be held liable for their failure to comply.
 
My point with that post is that rather than using wayleaves they seem to be using their Terms of Service to get customers to sign away their property rights.
 
When I bought my house back in 1998 NTL/UPC or what ever Virgin was called back then, had cables running across both the front and back of my house eves, I initial was a customer in 98/99 but changed over to Sky in late 99.

In 2009 I contact them and asked that they remove the cables from my house, they said they would pass in on to the tech department but I never heard back, this went on for the next four years until I took the matter into my own hands and removed the cables my self.
That evening I had a knock on the door from the service guys and agreed to temporarily allow cables across my house as long as they moved them permanently as soon as possible.

Six months later after many visits from management offering all sorts of deals and freebies they finally rerouted the cables around my property
 
I thought the wayleave is attached to the property. It does not dissolve if the property changes owner.

I'm open to correction.
 
Páid said:
My point with that post is that rather than using wayleaves they seem to be using their Terms of Service to get customers to sign away their property rights.
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Yeah, they're trying to contract their customers into registering these on their behalf. I doubt too many are actually following through on this though, so when that owner sells the service provider lose all entitlement to access.
 
Briefly they would have had to get permission.

At the time they would have worked around those that did not give permission.

Now the cable could carry phone etc. so you may deprive yourself.

You could insist.

What I would do is merely get them to tidy up.
 
I've known someone to get free phone and broadband as a condition of allowing one of these cables along their back fence.
 
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