Changes to UK Legislation

New UK legislation increases pressures for landlords, giving further Code powers to telcos to access leasehold property, advises Kevin Monaghan , Chief Commercial Officer, Complete Technology Group:

“There are many pressures facing landlords at the moment and so it’s not surprising that the implications of the new Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Act (TILPA) isn’t one of the top priorities but the new rights awarded to telecoms companies will further add to resource and cost pressures for landlords.

TILPA allows telcos to apply for temporary rights to install and operate equipment (such as fibre optic cabling) in Multi Dwelling Units (such as a block of flats) where they have requested consent from the landlord and received no response*.

Under the new legislation, if a resident has requested fibre broadband from a telco and the landlord has not responded to an access request within 35 days, telcos can apply for a court order to access and install fibre infrastructure.

To avoid expensive litigation, landlords will need to respond to the requests within 35 days. Current estimates are that over 2,000 buildings a year could be impacted and some of this demand could be ad hoc, disrupting housing association’s current planned work schedules for buildings and increasing costs further.

In addition, the landlord must resource the planning, installation and audit of any work undertaken to ensure building safety and quality of works, whilst upholding the principles of the Golden Thread.

As a minimum, we’re recommending housing associations do two things now:

• Ensure key channels state that you will only accept service of notices at your registered office or primary address. This is critical to prevent notices being served at a satellite office or to the premises
• Define a clear process and the people required to respond to telco requests within 35 days, management of wayleaves

CTG was set up to support landlords and our services are at no cost to social housing landlords. We’re happy to help manage relationships with telcos, and use our resources to help manage fibre roll out.

*England and Wales