Can Chorus install fibre to neighbor's house without my consent

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Can Chorus install fibre to neighbor's house without my consent

Louis2099

13 posts

Geek

#239491 20-Jul-2018 16:33

My neighbor has requested a fibre to their house. Don't they (Chorus/ISP) need my consent to lay the fibre through my property?

My house and neighbor's are on cross lease title. My house is the front one and the neighbor's at the back with a shared driveway. Both houses have their own exclusive use area. Now Chorus has sent me a information pack stating the work they are going to do to get my neighbor connected to fibre. The work has been classified as Category 2, but it involves digging up my lawns in my property.

I don't have problems with neighbor getting the fibre, but my question is aren't they (Chorus) supposed to work on the common area or shared driveway rather than digging up my property? Can they do it legally without my consent? I think the reason why Chorus propose this way is Area A (my property) has soft surface (grass), but hey, it's my property, not a common area.

A - My property

B - Neighbor's

C - Shared driveway

Proposed work has been shown in red

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

11428 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2059446 20-Jul-2018 16:40

@ChorusNZ and let then answer

John

Raymondwu

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

Maxicom

#2059467 20-Jul-2018 16:54

Chorus can not do it without your consent, no matter via your property or via shared drive way.

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#2059470 20-Jul-2018 16:59

Raymondwu:

Chorus can not do it without your consent, no matter via your property or via shared drive way.

Not quite true. With the new implied consent rules in the RMA work can be done.

Chorus infrastructure can not however cross your property via aerial or underground tresspass. A shared driveway or property is very different.

wellygary

8328 posts

Uber Geek

#2059475 20-Jul-2018 17:13

Its a Cross lease, so technically its not solely yours....

Check exactly what the "exclusive use" terms actually cover, there may be an exemption for services,

DarkShadow

1647 posts

Uber Geek

#2059476 20-Jul-2018 17:13

It's a category 2. Which means if you don't reply to their letter, your silence is taken as consent.

Wheelbarrow01

1725 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Chorus

#2059509 20-Jul-2018 17:47

wellygary:

Its a Cross lease, so technically its not solely yours....

Check exactly what the "exclusive use" terms actually cover, there may be an exemption for services,

I agree - a cross lease by definition means that you each exclusively own your dwelling, but you share the land on which those dwellings sit equally. You may have a fence between the dwellings, but that does not mean exclusive use or exclusive ownership in a legal sense. My feeling is that you would have to have a Unit Title in order to have a truly exclusive area.

As other posters have stated, Category 2 means that consent is deemed to be given unless you lodge an objection within the given timeframe. Please note that you must have valid grounds for objection from a strict list. I have posted about this on GZ previously but not sure where that thread is off the top of my head. However not wanting your grass dug up is not a valid reason to object.

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

quickymart

13963 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#2059511 20-Jul-2018 17:54

Did you lodge an objection within the timeframe given?

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

Louis2099

13 posts

Geek

#2059514 20-Jul-2018 18:04

Legally both area A and B are marked as "right of user". I wish it made it more clear than this. By law, they can only have service easement when working on the existing infrastructure, I would have thought.

Again, aren't they supposed to work on the shared areas instead for the UFB rollout?

shk292

2857 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2059559 20-Jul-2018 18:24

It would seem pretty stupid and wasteful to disrupt and repair a concrete driveway when putting fibre under the lawn would be much easier and would be unnoticeable within a few weeks

Louis2099

13 posts

Geek

#2059603 20-Jul-2018 19:24

quickymart:

Did you lodge an objection within the timeframe given?

We did lodge an objection, but it seems there are only a few valid grounds you can put this under. If you ring them up on the number they provided on the letter, they can't tell you anything, and then wrote back saying how undisruptive microtrench leading up to the neighbor's house is, which I don't have problems with, but mentioning nothing about the massive trench they will be doing on my lawn. The whole process is very poor.

I'm hoping to hear from others with the same experience and see how they deal/dealt with it.

Ge0rge

2055 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2059605 20-Jul-2018 19:26

I'm curious as to why you aren't jumping in on this opportunity to get fiber to your place at the same time?

Spyware

3763 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2059608 20-Jul-2018 19:28

How can you describe microtrenching as a "massive trench". It is just a slot cut in grass/soil and the microducting pushed down into it.

Louis2099

13 posts

Geek

#2059613 20-Jul-2018 19:32

Spyware: How can you describe microtrenching as a "massive trench". It is just a slot cut in grass/soil and the microducting pushed down into it.

They are doing trench on my lawn, and microtrench on the concrete part leading up neighbor's property. So they are doing both.

mattwnz

20164 posts

Uber Geek

#2059614 20-Jul-2018 19:32

Spyware: How can you describe microtrenching as a "massive trench". It is just a slot cut in grass/soil and the microducting pushed down into it.

It will be a PITA if they want to landscape the property. Lawns don't stay lawns forever, and microtrenching basically can restrict how someone can use their land in the future, without incurring costs to move it.

mattwnz

20164 posts

Uber Geek

#2059615 20-Jul-2018 19:33

Why aren't they just putting it down the driveway or along a fence?

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5