Access Rates

Dozer1

Got a call out of the blue there from a mobile phone company who have a mast on a neighbours land, they need to run a fibre cable through my land to the mast as they want to provide wireless broadband in the area.

Anyone on here got any experiences?

Initially its only a survey they are doing but what sort of questions should I ask, bearing in mind it'll be through my forestry but there is unplanted areas that would suit near the boundary.
a few I was thinking of were
1) will it affect my current forest grant.
2) what sort of equipement would be invloved, mini diggers or 20ton plus diggers, don't want the place tore to bits
3) Whats the payment rate and is it once off or will they need continuing acces for maintenance

Any comments welcome

reilig

If they are laying a cable and they need to go through your land, then you need to be demanding an annual rate from them. You need to speak to a solicitor who deals with these sort of things to determine the rate. A GAA club close to us receives €5000 per year for allowing a cable like this through their property to a disperser (Which is about twice the size of a football). They receive €10000 per year for the disperser which is mounted at the top of one of their pitch lights and a transformer (4ft by 4ft) at the side of their building. Make sure that any contract you sigh has clause put into it about reinstating any damage that they do to ground or hedges during installation or maintenance. Also, make sure the contract that you sign allows for future negotiations on price (The only way is up)

Don't know what size machines they will have - it will depend on the company contracted to do the work.

Don't know enough about forestry to tell you if it will affect your grants - you need to speak to your advisor.

Solicitor who has experience of dealing with such a contract is your first port of call. (Check with your neighbour who has the mast as to who he used).

Hope that helps.

Dozer1 wrote: »

Got a call out of the blue there from a mobile phone company who have a mast on a neighbours land, they need to run a fibre cable through my land to the mast as they want to provide wireless broadband in the area.

Anyone on here got any experiences?

Initially its only a survey they are doing but what sort of questions should I ask, bearing in mind it'll be through my forestry but there is unplanted areas that would suit near the boundary.
a few I was thinking of were
1) will it affect my current forest grant.
2) what sort of equipement would be invloved, mini diggers or 20ton plus diggers, don't want the place tore to bits
3) Whats the payment rate and is it once off or will they need continuing acces for maintenance

Any comments welcome

Dozer1

Thanks Reilig,
I had searched boards already but most of the posts were about guys who had the masts on their land.

Good idea on the solicitor, I'll see what they say at the survey on Monday anyway.
I won't be signing anything and that's for sure

unfortuantely my neighbour is seriously ill for a while so his family are looking after things, he has 3 or 4 masts there now I'd say.

Luckily I had put in my own passages for the cows before I planted it so access shouldn't be a huge problem.

reilig

If they are bringing in a small machine for the survey, a lot of these companies will have allowed for compensation for you too in their price.

Dozer1 wrote: »

Thanks Reilig,
I had searched boards already but most of the posts were about guys who had the masts on their land.

Good idea on the solicitor, I'll see what they say at the survey on Monday anyway.
I won't be signing anything and that's for sure

unfortuantely my neighbour is seriously ill for a while so his family are looking after things, he has 3 or 4 masts there now I'd say.

Luckily I had put in my own passages for the cows before I planted it so access shouldn't be a huge problem.

Dozer1

I don't think there will be any machines in for the survey, if they bring one it'll be outside my gate for along time. My dad had issues with ESB before so not going to be pushed around by another crowd.

they are to walk the route first to see if there is a viable route to bring the cable. the fact that the cable is a good bit below the level of the land in an old railway tunnel shoud be interesting

The guy on the phone mentioned it would be "the usual council rates for utilities like a water main.." does anyone know what these rates are?

bob charles

Dozer1 wrote: »

The guy on the phone mentioned it would be "the usual council rates for utilities like a water main.." does anyone know what these rates are?

Did he now, I would say the rate should be calculated along the lines of how much cheaper it is to go through your land than alternatives. Also will impact on future planning etc. There is a good chance that their agreement would allow them onto your land any day of the year and begin digging

rancher

Dozer1 wrote: »

Got a call out of the blue there from a mobile phone company who have a mast on a neighbours land, they need to run a fibre cable through my land to the mast as they want to provide wireless broadband in the area.

Anyone on here got any experiences?

Initially its only a survey they are doing but what sort of questions should I ask, bearing in mind it'll be through my forestry but there is unplanted areas that would suit near the boundary.
a few I was thinking of were
1) will it affect my current forest grant.
2) what sort of equipement would be invloved, mini diggers or 20ton plus diggers, don't want the place tore to bits
3) Whats the payment rate and is it once off or will they need continuing acces for maintenance

Any comments welcome

Local IFA office should be able to tell you what farmers got paid in compensation for facilitating the gas line, which would be something similar, also I think there was a written code of practice they had to abide by, might be worth getting a look at.

vcsggl

Dozer1 wrote: »

Thanks Reilig,
I had searched boards already but most of the posts were about guys who had the masts on their land.

Good idea on the solicitor, I'll see what they say at the survey on Monday anyway.
I won't be signing anything and that's for sure

unfortuantely my neighbour is seriously ill for a while so his family are looking after things, he has 3 or 4 masts there now I'd say.

Luckily I had put in my own passages for the cows before I planted it so access shouldn't be a huge problem.

Might be worth asking the company whether they consider that your neighbour's illness is in any way related to the fact that he has 3 or 4 masts on his land! They will of course say no but there's an awful lot of people that would suspect a relationship.

George

snowman707

I haven't read all the posts in the thread but I have one small bit of advise

DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING

until you and/or your solicitor have double read the small print

the company are most likely 100% and everything above board but better be sure than sorry

Dozer1

Thanks for all the advise lads, forgot about the gas line work, might try and find out more from the IFA.

As for signing anything I'd say its along way down the road but yes definitely getting a solicitor involved.

Unfortunately for my neighbour he has alzheimer's, not sure this is a mast related illness but for sake of not getting the thread closed I'd rather not discuss the rights and wrongs of masts

whelan1

we have some rebounders on our land 1 of the phone companies this year became very hard to deal with, so we just said ok take it down... they wherent long about changing their tune...