I rent a flat with a basement. Telephone master socket is in the basement. I can not get proper internet without access to master socket, because I can only connect to the flat wire extension line which comes out from under the floor and it only allows 0.3 mbps through it. BE ran tests and claims that the speed at the master socket should be no lower than 9-10 mbps :-( Landlord refuses access to the basement. Nothing in the contract about it. Anyone got legal advise for me? Can I demand the right of access? (flat inventory doesn't even mention the basement). 0.3 Mbps! that is painful! plz help!
Ask the landlord for permission to have BT/Virgin/Your choice of ISP come into the flat and install a socket for a separate line and you pay the bill for said line for the duration of your tenancy (just be careful that when you move you can move the contract to the new address). Do you pay extra for the internet access as part of your tenancy agreement or does he throw it in as part of the "bills" for utilities in general, or do you have a gas/electricity meter that you feed with cards? If so ask to have that part of the bill removed and do the above - that way you are in control. Having rented properties, most landlords are quite happy to allow the installation of telephone lines etc as it adds to the desirability of the house and saves new tenants the hassle of getting permission and having the stuff installed themselves.
I hate to say it, but I fight pretty hard for a connection that good most of the time. Ask the landlord to run a new extension? Offer to have it installed by a professional (which would increase the value of the property in the deal) which would keep you out of the basement and the owner would have the certainty that there was nobody just assing around in the basement (not that I believe you would do that, it's a general statement based on talking to too many landlords.) Instead of legal action first, try that. Afterwards, we can look at less fun methods to pursue. I tend to look at litigation last, not first.
I'm not sure what the telco setup is like on your side of the pond, but most buildings over here (built in the last 35 years with buried, or if they are ariel drop) all have demarcs on the outside of the building. If that exists, you could disconnect your pair running inside and try running some jumperwire through a window (just strip a cat5e wire and use a single pair). But seriously though, is your landlord running a meth lab in the basement or something?
I can understand them not wanting you in the basement. If there were no spiders, I would totally ass around in a basement, and im 27.
To answer the question, in principle if your lease does not include the basement as part of the premises on which you hold the lease then you have no right of access, unless the landlord specifically permits it. Where is the access point to the basement - within the confines of your flat or accessed from, say, a communal hall? When you went to view the flat did the landlord tell you it included use of the basement? and what exactly does your lease say in relation to the premises, by that I mean what premises does it list?
Completely irrelevent tbh. We are talking about utilities here, and there are tenancy laws governing what landlords need to provide access to and/or fix within a given amount of time Thinking about it, if your landlord is that much of an asshole, short out the phone wires and call BT, and tell them you have no dial tone. If your side of the pond is anything like mine, then denying telco access to fix the phone (and thus preventing calls to emergency services) can lead to a huge fine for the landlord.
NOT completely irrelevant actually. The OP asked what rights he had to access the basement to get to the primary socket. He's showing his location as UK not Canada. We are talking about provision of services in accordance with lease terms as a phone line is not a critical service such as electricity supply. There are NO such requirements here regarding fixed phone line access for emergency or other phone services. So unless his lease commits to providing internet speeds over the phoneline infrastructure - which is frankly a laughable scenario - he has no rights other than service itself and only that IF there's mention in the lease at all. If his landlord is a g*t and won't permit him access and persuasion doesn't work and he has no redress through his lease terms there is no legal way to rectify it. The landlord will be required to be present when access to the basement is required by the telecoms company so he still won't gain access to the basement and most probably a different engineer will turn up on a different day to get to that primary socket if the landlord does not live on site. The OP has raised this issue already with the landlord . If he takes your suggested course of action and it is deemed a fault caused by him he will end up footing the repair bill as faults within your own premises are usually the liability of the occupier. And let's also hope that if the OP follows your suggestion it doesn't p*** off the landlord sufficiently for him to serve notice on the OP, shall we?
On a more constructive note, are you planning to be there long enough to consider a cable service, if you can get it in your area and the landlord permits it?
If your in Aberdeen I am assuming your in a Victorian granite tenement. Usually the basements are shared or have areas divided off in each one (the old coal storage areas) for each flat. Are you renting through an agency or directly from the landlord? I know from your previous posts your Eastern European so the landlord might be fobbing you off with excuses. Unfortunately there are no cable services available in Aberdeen Carrie. It is ADSL only. Also assuming your in a tenement there must be a separate phone line for each flat otherwise you would all be sharing one line and one bill? Can you identify your socket from any of the pictures in the link below? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_telephone_sockets
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/engla...g_repairs_done_while_renting.htm#Improvements http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/engla...enting.htm#Gas_electricity_and_water_supplies While I'm sure that most of the above link is just advice based on the leagl mumbo jumbo, it seems to be pretty straight forward to me. It sounds like the OP is offering to cover the costs to an improvement to the property, and at the same time improve his access to a utility (internet), which in todays day and age is most certinly 'reasonably required'.
Unfortunately, the landlord is already providing telephone access, albeit through an extension line. Internet is not a reasonable requirement under UK tenancy laws - not even a phone line is an absolute requirement. Unlike Canada, BT's demarcation line isn't where the wires enter the building, it's everything up to and including the master socket (the first non-extension socket which is directly connected to BT's external wiring). It is illegal to tamper with the master socket or any wiring entering the master socket (extension wiring attaches to the faceplate not the original wiring connectors), and unfortunately BT will charge somewhere in the £200 ballpark to move it to a different location - if that's even possible.
A telephone line isn't classed as a utility in the UK, that only covers water, gas and elec. As the tenancy agreement doesn't cover any access to the basement so the tenant has no legal right to enter it. The OP could take his landlord to court under that legislation but he's likely get kicked out of his flat soon after as our tenancy agreements are normally a 'shorthold assured tenancy' which the landlord can end the agreement very easily. If the landlord is really being a cock it's easier to move house than take them on legally.
Have a look around outside for where the master socket gets its feed and see if it could be cut short/spliced to enter your flat by BT. Also might I suggest that a landlord that isn't understanding isn't worth renting from, so consider looking else where to live. If they're pissy about a phone socket, I would hate to think about anything serious like a boiler failure or water leak. On the other hand, what they don't know can't harm them so long as you repair any changes.. (I ran an external Gig-E cable behind a down pipe with two hidden holes to run the cable... hehehe)
I would move tbh. Asshat landlords are no fun at all and if he is being like that over a telephone extension he wont be any use if you really need him to sort something serious.
A telephone line/extension is not classified as an improvement. Improvements in the above relate in essence to the fabric of the premises and provision of critical services such as water, gas and electricity. It does not include "nice to haves" such as telephone lines. Again, a telephone line/extension is not classified as a required utility. Even if it was, the landlord is providing a working service. It may not work as fast as the OP would like but it does work so if the service is covered by the lease the landlord does not appear, on the face of it, to be failing in providing the service. The landlord seems to be a private landlord so I'd be prepared to bet the lease the OP has is some form of assured short hold tenancy agreement (or equivalent for Scotland) for 6-12 months. As such depending on the length of the lease and the conditions therein the landlord can either issue notice to terminate (with anything from one month's notice - depends on the lease and Scottish rather than English law) or seek repossession on the grounds of damage to the property (such as shorting out the telephone services). That's your definition of what's reasonably required but without a clear definition in the lease that demonstrates the landlord is failing in his duty to provide agreed services the OP is unlikely to be able to successfully challenge it. "I want" doesn't always mean "I can have"
