Know your rights when utility companies come calling

It is inevitable that landowners will have to deal with utility companies from time to time when repairs or upgrades are required to local infrastructure. Jacob Armett, a Land Agent at C&D Rural, outlines why it’s important to know your rights to avoid companies exploiting agreements.

With a sharp rise in the volume of developments planned across Cumbria, landowners with pylons, cables or water and gas pipes crossing their land should expect access requests from utility companies at some point.

Whenever there is a requirement to repair, maintain or upgrade their infrastructure, these companies have statutory powers to enter private land for such works as long as they stick to the terms of agreements placed on the land.

It’s vitally important for landowners to know what their rights are and how they can best protect their land to ensure no lasting damage is caused, and to prevent companies using their ‘bully boy’ tactics to get exactly what they want.

The best piece of advice I can give is to enlist the services of a specialist land agent. But this isn’t a shameless plug for extra business. Our fees in these matters will be covered by the utility company so it’s ultimately a free service to the landowner.

A qualified land agent has experience of dealing with these cases and can liaise directly with the utilities to take all that stress away from you. Working on behalf of the landowner, they will identify exactly what the company is allowed and not allowed to do as per the original agreement.

If cables or pipes need to be dug up, for example, they will negotiate the best routes which will cause the least disruption to your daily operations. What depth are they planning to dig for new pipelines, or will new pylons disturb existing hedgerows? We can negotiate these details on the client’s behalf.

Compensation agreements will also be put in place to ensure the land is back to its original condition prior to work starting. If any damage is caused, a land agent will make sure the company reinstates everything to a standard the landowner is happy with, or pays adequate compensation to enable the farmer to pay somebody to carry out the reparation work.

One important point to stress is that landowners cannot deny these companies access to their land if there is prior agreement for infrastructure to be present. From experience, the utility companies usually don’t understand farming operations and often request access during the summer months. If you’re an arable farmer, this is prime harvesting season and not ideal timing for any intrusion, so It’s in our interest to rearrange the visit.

Similarly, lambing and calving seasons aren’t good for livestock farmers so the same applies as above. We are seeing the growth of the energy grid on a national scale as demand rises for more homes and commercial buildings, so there is a need for extra utilities such as gas, water, electricity and broadband.

If you haven’t had a request for access in recent years, then it may be a case that one will be heading your way in the near future.

At C&D Rural, our team of experienced land agents and valuers has extensive expertise across rural, residential, and agricultural sectors. We offer a comprehensive service to make life as stress free as possible so you can concentrate on your daily business.

*Jacob can be contacted at jacob@cdrural.co.uk or on 01228 792299.