This information has been provided by
Australian law firm, Australian Conveyancing Services and is applicable in Queensland
only.
In the last 10 years we have seen a surge in communication services, including the Internet, more mobile phones and pay TV. All of these communications are serviced by underground cables, so their presence in residential back yards are also increasing.
The standard conveyancing searches carried out by Solicitors
for the Buyer of a property will not discover the existence of any
underground cables. This is because communications carriers have
special powers granted under the Telecommunications Act which permits
them to lay cables without the need to take out easements which show
on Title Deeds.
The carrier who wants to lay cables over private property,
must notify the Owner of the property and compensate that Owner for
any loss that they suffer as a result of the installation. But
subsequent owners do not get any compensation and do not need to be
notified by the Carrier of the cable’s existence.
With the presence of cables affecting property now estimated to be 3-5% and growing, it is recommended that property buyers (or owners wanting to do work on their property) conduct an
underground Telco search as part of their searching
procedure. (Statistic quoted from Pronet Consulting,
Telco searchers).
The cost of finding underground cables on your property after settlement can be very high:
Get a Telco search done. The
costs is $55.00 but it protects a major investment. The best time to do the search is before you sign a Contract.
If you dig it up, then you’re up for the repair bill or
worse
You are restricted in what you can do over that part of your
property
The Carrier has the right to enter to maintain and repair their cable
Getting the cable relocated is one option, but this can be expensive.
