I came home today to find the cable guy, (well actually a subcontracted, subcontracted subcontractor’s employee), in my fenced in backyard.
I asked him to leave and come back some other time. He said that “they” had the right to go wherever there was cable. I told him that I found that claim to be dubious, that I didn’t care and told him to leave. He mad a show of gathering up some things. I then called the number on his truck. No answer. I locked the gate to my fence w/ a padlock.
I asked him what the regular hours for the phone number on the side of the truck were. He then curteously provided me w/ his immediate boss’ ph#, ( the subcontracted, subcontracted subcontractor). She told me the same bit about how they were allowed on to my property against my wishes. I told her that I didn’t believe her. I asked for a citation of what law allowed that. She was unable to provide it. She did say that she’d look it up Monday when she got back to the office. I told her that’d be great and that she should mail me a copy if she had one. In the mean time though they needed to get out of my backyard and out of my driveway.
I got on the phone w/ my landlady to see if anyone had bothered contacting her- no one had. Then I look out my back window and the cable guy has come through/ over my locked gate! After I told him and his boss to bugger off. I called back on the cell phone number. No answer.
What I’m hoping someone can answer for me before I raise a whopper load of cain is: Does thecable company have the right to enter my premises against my specific instructions?
p.s.
I don’t now nor have I ever subscribed to cable.
Well if its an apt complex and a communal junction box was in your “yard area” I would say yes he can enter. Its pretty much an accepted part of apt dwelling that service people will be wandering around and that with appropriate notice can even enter against your wishes.
If this is a stand alone home and he entered your yard with no legitimate mission (ie installing/repairing your cable service) I would say call the police, not his boss.
As for the dog, probably wouldn’t matter if it was a burglar or a cop chasing one, you will most likely hold some accountability for it.
IIRC most utility service providers (and their contracted subs) do have an easement right of sorts to attend to their equipment even if it is on your property. The electric meter reader is always running though my back yard.
Even if you did not have the cable installed for yourself someone in the past may have (esp in a rental) and the utility service provider would have the right to check the integrity and legality of connections.
If he wasn’t upgrading services for the community and was specifically doing something geared toward delivering services to your home when you are not a cable subscriber and you specifically told him to leave your property (and the locked gate pretty much made it clear that you were serious) you may have more room for indignation and/or a claim of trespass.
He certainly had no right to park in your driveway without permission, even if he was in your yard to work on something for which the cable company has a legitimate easement.
I agree that you should’ve called police. They had the authority to determine exactly why the guy was there and whether or not his presence (and re-entry over/despite a locked gate) was lawful. They would’ve also told him to move his truck.
I hope you documented everything carefully, times, names, the exact sequence of events, etc. If you haven’t, do so now to the best of your ability. Follow up on this.
This guy may not have been a real cable guy. “Cable guy” is a real convienent excuse for a burglar to wander around strange neighborhoods with tools & a van to carry away all your junk in.
And I’d guess that there are one or two real cable guys who moonlight. too…
Depending on where the easements are, and where the fence is, the cable guy may have every right to enter your yard whether you want him to or not.
Recently, my next door neighbor put up a fence. In the process, he cut the cable that runs from the box just inside the corner of his yard to my house. Not his fault, the call-before-you-dig guy screwed up and missed the cable. Good thing it wasn’t electrical. Anyway… When the cable guy came out to fix it, he had to climb the fence to get to the box, because the gate was locked and no one was home. I was told that since the fence was in the easement, he could have taken the fence down if he needed to (if the entire box had needed replaced, for instance, he would have had to take the fence down to get it done).
I can’t imagine that they’d be allowed to enter your house, unless maybe they built the house right in the middle fo the easment.
It’s hard enough to get the cable guy to come into your house when you want him to.
All together, once again, it’s all about the easements. Check the abstract that should have been prepared when you bought your home. The access easement won’t give them the right to enter your home but it will give them the legal right to access their own property (which the cable lines are).
This “subcontractor” business is rather dubious though… I know I’ve never dealt with a cable subcontractor before, or at least that I knew of. Every person I’ve ever dealt with drove around in a nice white van with “Cox” on the side of it, and wore clothes with the company logo. Of course, even a guy with all the trappings can be a con artist too, but “subcontractor” sounds too much like “I’m an undercover cop, but I left my badge and that other junk at home.”
Oopsie-daisy, you’re not the property owner, you’re the lessee. Ask your landlady what an easement is.
In any event, as the lessee, you have no more property rights than the landlady has, and when she bought the home she bought it she bought it encumbered by utility access easements. Not only do they not have to inform you or the owner when they want to exercise their legal rights, but the owner (and by extension, you) have to keep the easements clear so they can access them.
if i (property owner) were to ask them to remove the easements, and since the easements are gone there would be no more rights of access, would they have to do it?
Can the legally enter your backyard (fenced/locked) to run cable through your yard (above or below ground). It seems like if they’re not in your yard to begin with, you woulnd’t have to let them in now.
Again, IANATitleLawyer, I just work in real estate (I just appraise commercial properties). Take everything with a massive grain of salt until you hear from someone who’s a title lawyer. That said:
netscape6: I suppose, but this never happens that I know of so long as the lines are still under your property. Utility easements are particularly important to prevent you from adding another room to your home on top of a sewer line or something. I suppose you can try asking the utility company in question to release the easement, but I can guaranty you the response will be either “huh?” or wild, maniacal laughter.
Joey P: No, unless there’s some kind of weird application of eminent domain I don’t know about (which is entirely possible). What grants the utility owners these property rights on your property is the easement, which is a legal instrument filed with the county. No easement means they have no property rights on your property, no more than I do. In fact, when some private utilities run lines like fiber optic cable, they actually pay the property owner money in exchange for the easement. Sometimes it’s a single lump sum, sometimes it’s an annual rental rate.
Again, this is stuff for title lawyers (these are exactly the sorts of things they deal with for a living). I just pick stuff up in the course of working in the business (and occassionally valuing easements for title insurance claims).
