@LY6 wrote:
I currently have THREE Rogers boxes on my property. They are not on easement, but on my property. The builder did not inform me that the boxes were going to be there when they sold us the house, even though they knew this was the case BEFORE the lots went to sale. I paid a premium for my corner lot which is not taken up a good deal by the Rogers boxes. This is extremely upsetting! In addition, I am a Rogers customer and my internet is so sporadic that it constantly disconnects. I am SO UPSET by all of this! How can this be remedied?! (I have pictures but was unable to load them here...)
How long have you been in your home and when did these boxes appear? If these boxes are on your property and there is no easement registered, you have every right to have them moved but it could be a long and painful process to get this issue resolved. (Check out this article.)
If you just closed the sale, this is an issue that you should raise with your lawyer. You should also be able to get a fence line survey done at a reasonable cost, which would also tell you where you can (and cannot) place a fence. However, if there is an easement on your property, you are stuck... and if such an easement was not disclosed or not discovered when you performed your due-diligence prior to purchasing the property, this is also something that you will need to discuss with your lawyer.
@LY6, I’m not sure I agree with your assessment of “Buyer beware”. I’d call it expropriation without compensation. Whether the buck lies with the subdivision developer, or the builder (possibly one in the same), you’re not receiving the property that you agreed to buy.
One question that needs to be asked is whether or not there is an easement that was missed by the last surveyor. If so, that’s on the surveyor. If not and an additional easement was identified, then its on the subdivision developer, or the builder for not informing you of any additional easement. If you had a surveyor produce a Plan of Survey for the lot prior to purchasing the lot or finalizing the house purchase, and he or she missed an easement that the pedestals are located on, then again, that’s on the surveyor.
The problem going forward is the continued access to the pedestals. That will depend to some degree on what those pedestals are and where they are located. Are you sure that they are all Rogers pedestals or is there a chance that one might belong to Bell and the other to the City Hydro? The location of the pedestals might prove to be a real hindrance in the future. I’m thinking of any landscaping that you might want to do, or installation of a fence. Typically, the pedestals are on an easement and if you plant anything that might be considered in the way, a tech will simply rip out anything that gets in his or her way. Given that they are on your property, that leads to an interesting standoff between your property rights and what the field techs will consider as their right to go anywhere on the property and do whatever they want to do. That will probably be on ongoing battle between you and the field techs. Most likely the field techs will have no idea that the pedestals are on your property and that they have no right to be on your property. I’m not sure how you and your lawyer will get the point across.
The follow on problem from that is what happens one day when a work crew pitches up in your finished yard one day to expand any of the pedestals. You would think that any company that planned to do that would have checked for the correct easements and decided that this couldn’t be done, however, the fact that the pedestals ended up on your property shreds that thought. That is another issue that you’re going to have to tackle with your lawyer.
If you dig a hole in your lot to plant a tree for example, you could cut some of the cables that run into or out of the pedestals. If you install a fence, or a deck, both of which require underground support, you could also cut a few cables. It all depends on where those pedestals are. Local RG-6 cables for Rogers cables aren’t buried very deep, literally two to three inches if that. The major feed cables from the neighbourhood node are buried further down, somewhere around 4 to 5 feet I believe. Hydro cables will be buried around 6 to 8 feet, possibly deeper. Locates which are done for any digging usually disregard any shallow RG-6 cables, at least that’s how it appears in Ottawa. So, if you have a typical Rogers pedestal on your property, I have no doubt that you’ll end up cutting cables at some point in the future.
The other thought to this is that you’re going to have to protect your property and ensure that there isn’t an attempt to modify the easements without your knowledge and agreement. There might be a requirement to place a restriction of some type on the property documents to prevent any attempts to change the easements without your agreement. Over time, if nothing is done to move the pedestals, their location might be considered as a de facto city easement and accepted as such without your agreement. Not sure where this goes from here. You’re going to have to consult with your lawyer to sort this out and determine your rights, and what rights the companies will have to access those pedestals and potentially to expand their size at some point in the future.
I personally do not know who you can contact to discuss this either, but maybe you can contact someone from the social media team and they can direct your inquiry to the correct team?
One thing I can say is there are likely cables underneath this pedestal which are also under the ground. So even if its on your property there might be some kind of easement or right of way where the utilities are allowed to do such a thing. one of my family members had a utility pole in his backyard with rogers cable on it.
One thing I can say is there are likely cables underneath this pedestal which are also under the ground. So even if its on your property there might be some kind of easement or right of way where the utilities are allowed to do such a thing. one of my family members had a utility pole in his backyard with rogers cable on it.
Greetings @KSyed0!
In situations like this, we typically have an easement that allows us to have our infrastructure on private property.
Please check with your municipality.
Regards,
RogersCorey
@Saeven wrote:
@RogersCorey Would such an easement be registered on the Property Parcel that one obtains through the provincial government?
I'm not a lawyer but I'm pretty sure that any registered easements will show up when you perform a title search.
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