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Hi - I have just joined this site and would like some advice. I am just purchasing a couple of acres of land which comes with planning permission for a new dwelling. There are two relatively small power poles on the site (not near the dwelling site). According to the solicitors and title deeds there are no easements or way leave agreements in place. Has anyone ever had any experience with utility companies and wayleave agreements and whether if there is any risk in in the power company claiming rights over the land despite the absence of any agreement. Many thanks

Had a nightmare with overhead power cables when the side extension was about to start. Full story on ebuild for anyone wanting background: http://www.ebuild.co.uk/topic/16812-high-voltage-power-cable-passing-over-extension/page__hl__overhead So extension is now up, and scaffolding has all been removed and I now want the damn cables removed (11Kv) as they're still a liability if I wanted to start fishing from the balcony or the kids decided to fly a kite from the garden. There is/was a wayleave agreement but this was acknowledged to be void as it mentions parties that no longer reside/own the respective lands that are impacted by the cables. Badly worded in the 1970s, but good in my favour now. So I've just informed the power company that I want them to start the (no doubt lengthy) process of removing them. They'd already indicated 2 years ago that they *could* underground them in an adjacent field around my property to the adjacent sub station. Seems this has been discuseed a few times on ebuild and BH, e.g. but in most cases it appears it's the self builder having to cough up. I'm sure they will try and come back to me with a cost I have to meet, but as there is no valid agreement between both parties I don't see how they could expect me to pay. Not involved any legal bods yet and don't wish to if I can help it. My main question is how long can I be expected to wait for them to actually start the work? I thought I had previously read somewhere that legally they have to have the work completed within 12months after agreement has been made that the work is to be undertaken, but I can't find that article now. Is there a legal boot up the backside that I can rely on, as no doubt they will drag this out as it's going to be a costly affair as they will have to underground around 500m. I did already refused entry for one of their contracted tree cutters to prune some of the trees on my plot as I knew they would sit on my request even longer if they had managed to prune the trees to industry guidelines. I don't like playing difficult but I may be in a better position if my trees are about to take down their lines (I better get by PV batteries ordered!). Although I expect they can get a legal order to prune them if needed. Thanks, OB

Hi, I have recently moved into an old farmhouse. We bought during covid so weren’t allowed to walk around the land. The land is quite steep and the house sits in a bowl with a cliff two metres from the back of the house. The cliff is higher than the house And covered in large trees which we are going to remove for safety. The searches showed no electrical installations on the land and we didn’t see any when viewing. When we got here we walked up and found that the pole supplying several peoples (4) electricity was at the top of the cliff where it’s loose shale. The supply for others is attached to my fascia boards (rotting) all along the side of the house and then down to other properties. None of this is shown on the searches. . I can touch the cables standing on tiptoe on my path . We then, to our horror, noticed a few metres back a large 3 phase pole with a transformer box (the big grey kind). Again on a steep slope. There is another pole with three cables further along too, which run across the valley, that we can touch as the garden slopes upwards. We have an Emf monitor and the results are off the scale in the house. We called WPower to come to see if they will move them. They immediately offered us £2000 to leave it. We refused. They are now saying it will cost us £62k plus vat to move them as it’s too dangerous to put them further up my field as it’s on a slope!! They are happy to leave the existing on a slope and balanced on the edge of a cliff though.... if the one came down the cliff it would pull the transformer onto the house! There is no easement or wayleave. I also can’t believe that they expect us to in theory be a pylon for 4 other properties supply and have their cables tacked to my house. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Not surprisingly, I've been pondering the dilemma of the overhead electricity lines near/over my proposed garage. I'm still waiting to hear back from MBC and I suspect my request for a call has got lost in the works somewhere, so I will chase it up. In the meantime, I've decided to take another course of action in parallel as, given the choice, I would very much prefer the overhead lines not to be there, or at least not so close. The immediate thought that comes to mind is £££££. As many of us know, anything to do with moving electricity supplies tends to be expensive. This is a slightly different case to the usual one, however, in that the overhead cables don't supply me or my property so I'm not over that particular barrel. On the deeds to my property is a copy of a fairly ancient wayleave agreement, made in 1958 between the then land owner and what was the Southern Electricity Board. The key term here is "wayleave". If it were an easement, I would really be in a spot of bother, as an easement is agreement made in perpetuity, as the legal bods like to call it. To us laypeople, that means forever. So, the fact that I have a wayleave is a good start. So what's so good about a wayleave, then? Well, I can serve notice to the electricity board that I am going to terminate it and they have 3 months to do something about it or respond in some way. That's not to say that the response will be the one I want, but it gets the ball rolling. It seems that this not an uncommon request from developers and farmers and there is a well laid out process for it so I shall get things started today - no time like the present and all that. I will update as and when, but my knowledge is sparse at the moment so I shan't go into too much detail that may be a load of rubbish. Once more unto the breech! Quick update: of course, everything has been done before on BH! Here's a link to a previous thread for Lucy Murray's build in Scotland but with English cases cited from Peter Stark. Just love this place! Burying electricity supply