Fibre Install query

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Fibre Install query

thecripplernz

252 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 3

#173484 25-May-2015 12:49

Hi everybody

Im currently in a shared driveway situation as I attempt to get fibre sorted.

50 metre driveway, 2 houses on the left, one behind the other, and one house on the right.

I live in the first house on the left, I have gained consent from the house behind me, but the house opposite me
have denied the consent purely because the owner (who doesn't live there) doesn't want any digging done on her side of the driveway, at this point I was informed that the property line goes smack bang down the middle of the driveway.

and that as long as any civil work was done down the left hand side, then the consent wasn't needed as their property wasn't
being used...

I approached Ultra Fast Broadband, and they confirmed to me somebody in the opposite house had already ordered fibre and then cancelled the order, the plan that was done up shows the fibre coming from the opposite houses letterbox and running all
the way up their side of the driveway, where it was split in the middle to possibly allow my home, and the house behind me to connect to fibre in the future.

Questions:

1.Do you think it is possible/reasonable to request that the fibre 'feeder' be trenched across from the neighbours letterbox to my side and then run all the way up my side, to avoid fighting for the consent?

2. Does anybody that already has fibre out there have any information re the process of the digging? the plan says 'drill/thrust' up the driveway... I would like to know the process and how messy it might be? how long before grass looks normal again?

it might help alleviate some of my opposite neighbours concerns and help gaining consent

btw: Im still awaiting an actual plan for my home, but the person I dealt with at Ultra Fast was pretty certain it will still include running the fibre up the neighbours side of the driveway

thanks

shk292

2916 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2040

Lifetime subscriber

#1311290 25-May-2015 13:19

They have recently put fibre up the side of my shared driveway, using a 'micro-trench' in the grassed verge. You can hardly see where it has been done, a week afterwards

Wheelbarrow01

1784 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2638

Trusted

Chorus

#1311329 25-May-2015 14:13

1.Do you think it is possible/reasonable to request that the fibre 'feeder' be trenched across from the neighbours letterbox to my side and then run all the way up my side, to avoid fighting for the consent?

That wouldn't make any difference in my opinion. A shared driveway is exactly that - shared. There is no " this is my side and that is their side". The key to this is the term 'common land'. The entire driveway is common land, therefore you all need each other's permission to do anything on it, including what you believe to be 'your side'.

2. Does anybody that already has fibre out there have any information re the process of the digging? the plan says 'drill/thrust' up the driveway... I would like to know the process and how messy it might be? how long before grass looks normal again?

Pretty much every LFC has a policy of installing the fibre using the method with the least possible impact. Chorus and Enable both offer the option of ruggedised fibre attached to boundary fences, walls etc, but this still requires consent where the fence is shared or on common property. I'm not sure if UFF offer this yet.

Failing that they will usually directional drill (or thrust) which only requires a pilot hole at each end of the run. If that is not possible then open trenching and reinstatement is the last resort.

Speaking in terms of my own underground install, Enable showed me where they were going to thrust in the morning, and when I got home from work they were gone and the duct was in place. I honestly could not tell where they had laid it at first glance. I had to search pretty hard to find the pilot holes they had dug as they had saved the turf in one piece, and had carefully replaced it afterwards (like a golfer and a divot)

You may want to check the legal status of the driveway for your own benefit. There are a number of ways it may have been set up. One way is for one party to maintain full ownership of the driveway, but to have easements in place to allow access to other nearby property owners. However
the most common situation I have seen is for two or more dwellings to have proportional or shared ownership of the driveway, but as stated before, there is no physical division. It might look divided on an aerial map because that is the only way the council can show that it is shared.

The views expressed by me are not necessarily those of my employer Chorus NZ Ltd

ajobbins

5053 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1279

Trusted

#1311336 25-May-2015 14:26

What are people's options when other parties from whom consent is required simply refuse? In this case it seems like the other driveway owner is probably being unreasonable.

Surely lots of cases will start to come up where people are blocked from getting fibre installed simply because their neighbours don't like them or just decide they don't like the idea.

Twitter: ajobbins

thecripplernz

252 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 3

#1311352 25-May-2015 14:40

ajobbins: What are people's options when other parties from whom consent is required simply refuse? In this case it seems like the other driveway owner is probably being unreasonable.

Surely lots of cases will start to come up where people are blocked from getting fibre installed simply because their neighbours don't like them or just decide they don't like the idea.

I just moved from auckland where this was the exact case... I had access to fibre for well over a year and had a shared driveway with 3 other units. I had my closest neighbour actively hate me because we had a 2nd car and thus took up a little more space.

and because of that I couldn't have fibre.

at the moment, there is nothing you can do if your neighbour holds a grudge. Back in auckland my isp recommended i go knock
on their door with a chocolate cake or something. Annoyingly I dont recall a chocolate cake being offered to me when those neighbours had
their trees trimmed or any work done that blocked the shared driveway...

shk292

2916 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2040

Lifetime subscriber

#1312189 26-May-2015 17:40

Here are some photos of my driveway installation.

Bottom of the drive, trench visible in grass:

Further up the grass verge, trench not really visible:

Crossing the drive, they seem to have widened an existing seam:

thecripplernz

252 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 3

#1312193 26-May-2015 17:45

Thanks for the photos, you're right. not very noticeable at all

HP

Shop now for HP laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

shk292

2916 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2040

Lifetime subscriber

#1312195 26-May-2015 17:46

I hope it helps reassure your neighbour

kingjj

1730 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 450

ID Verified

Trusted

#1312329 26-May-2015 22:02

shk292: Here are some photos of my driveway installation.

Bottom of the drive, trench visible in grass:

Further up the grass verge, trench not really visible:

Crossing the drive, they seem to have widened an existing seam:

That's beautiful compared to our grass install on Enable. Instead of mirco trenching they dug out a foot wide section of grass along the length and than used a chainsaw like device to dig a small trench. The after install finish was terrible, uneven grass with gaps and stones (which I than spent several hours repairing by hand). When we than had them out to move our fibre feed (around the foundations of a new construction - at a cost of just under $500) they did the same thing but an even worse job (didn't help that they cut through our water line and had to dig an even bigger hole). As we are getting a slab shortly on that patch of lawn I wasn't concerned about the finish but neither time has been up to the above standard.

thecripplernz

252 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 3

#1313461 28-May-2015 13:34

Hi, looks like they are in the process of creating my design at the moment. They seem happy to cross the driveway and come up my side of the driveway.

and now the wait for install begins

thecripplernz

252 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 3

#1318114 5-Jun-2015 18:14

it turns out i just cant catch a break...

can somebody out there confirm to me whether a signed consent can be redacted?

Lazarui

136 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 27

#1319604 8-Jun-2015 17:54

thecripplernz: it turns out i just cant catch a break...

can somebody out there confirm to me whether a signed consent can be redacted?

That would be up to the LFC's Lawyers to decide, I would say yes generally speaking anyone can turn around and say I no longer want you doing that on our common land you do not have Fibre supported in the RMA sorry.