ABOUT YOUR WAYLEAVES CLAIM

Over the last few years we have successfully negotiated with BT to produce wayleave agreements for people with BT apparatus on their property.  In doing so we have managed to claim around  £40 million for farmers and landowners around the country. It is our aim to continue in this manner until all those entitled to such payments have duly received them.

If you are interested please contact our Wayleave Department to discuss further.  As you may not be familiar with the procedures involved with this work being carried out, it is our intention to inform you of what happens at the various stages.  Please take the time to read this information and learn that, like thousands of happy landowners for whom we have claimed money, that you just cannot lose whatever the outcome!

1) The Visit
You will be visited by one of our wayleaves clerks at a time convenient to yourself.  The clerk will ask you to identify the boundaries of your property on a map supplied by us.  Once the boundaries have been identified you will be asked to accompany the clerk around your property to assist in identifying the BT apparatus on your land.  Any BT apparatus found on your land will be marked on the map in order to assist in the claim.  At this stage you will be asked to give various other details such as to whom the cheque should be paid and in what form you wish to receive the payment.  (i.e. lump sum or annually, see note 4).  It should be noted that all our staff are highly experienced and trained in the surveying of these claims and rarely miss any apparatus, or make mistakes with the claim.
We will also investigate your electricity wayleave payments at the same time.  In this case we require only the boundaries of your property on the map, with any hedges or field boundaries that are shown on the map but are no longer in existence to be removed.  It is also important for us to know the cropping of the various fields.  It is essential that we have a map of all the land that you own.
You will be asked to fill out our standard authorisation form. This is a legal document in the form of a letter to ourselves allowing us to do the work on your behalf.  The document also gives us legal protection in the event that we should be misinformed with regard to any aspect of the claim.
We will also require a deposit based on 7.5% of the estimated capitalisation value of the final claim to BT excluding arrears, this will be refunded in the event of a failed claim (something that is very rare).  In circumstances beyond our control force majeure clauses will apply.
Our staff can explain these details further when they visit.

2)  The next stage
On returning to the office the clerk will produce detailed and accurate plans for submission to the appropriate utility companies for your claim.  Occasionally the utility company may require greater detail of the property, in which case we will contact you to assist us in producing the detail required.
As a rule BT will take about 12 months to respond to us regarding the claim, however other utility companies tend to respond within a shorter period.

3)  Utilities - Electricity.
When the utility company informs us of your updated payment, a copy of the correspondence will be forwarded to yourself.  Occasionally, due to wayleaves not having been updated for some time, you may be entitled to an arrears payment.  This is generally due to new land being acquired or a change in cropping.  Once the agreement is in effect, a bill will be sent to you as appropriate (see note 7).
Finally, you will continue to receive the wayleave payment each year.

4)  Utilities - BT
Your BT agreement will usually arrive within 12 months of the claim being submitted.
Occasionally, we find that there is an existing agreement on some or all of your property and if this is the case you will find your payments will be affected (see note 6).
On the issue of your BT agreement you will have the option of maintaining an annual payment or taking a once and for all lump sum payment.  Each payment type has advantages and disadvantages as shown below.
The annual payment will be paid to you at the same time every year for as long as the apparatus remains on your property.  This option may give you more freedom than the lump sum, particularly if you wish to have the apparatus moved or removed from your property.  BT will remove the apparatus free of charge if the agreement is for an annual payment.
The lump sum payment is calculated as 15 times the annual payment.  Once the payment has been received, no further payments will be due to you or your successor in title.  This means that whoever inherits or buys the property will receive no payments for the apparatus.
The main advantage of this payment option is that with the increasing use of mobile and satellite communications, much of the apparatus used by BT may become obsolete and therefore be removed from the property.  IN 7 OR 8 YEARS TIME YOU MAY HAVE LESS APPARATUS ON YOUR PROPERTY THAN AT THE MOMENT!  For this reason alone we feel it might be wise to take the money now, while it is still on offer!
The disadvantage to this payment type is that BT may require you to pay for the moving or removal of apparatus in the future.  Your payment decision in no way affects us, although we do generally advise our clients to take the lump sum option.

5)  For taxation issues please contact your accountant.

6)  If a BT agreement already exists on your property.
It may be that you are already receiving up to date payments on an annual basis and have now decided that you wish to capitalise this payment.  We are willing to do this for you, for a fee when more details are known.
Occasionally we find that there are existing agreements on your property that neither of us is aware of.  In some instances a lump sum payment has already been paid on the apparatus, perhaps to a previous owner.  In these cases no payment is due to you.  If this is found to be the case you will only be asked to pay a token payment, i.e. on the anticipated increased amount, expected to be received by you.
It has been known that annual payments have continued to be paid to previous owners, despite the land having been under new ownership for many years.  However having rectified this you will be charged a fee, in the normal way to cover expenses in submitting the claim.

7)  Receipt of your cheque.
Once it has arrived, we will contact you to arrange for you to sign the necessary release documents and to answer any queries you may have regarding the agreement.  This visit also gives us a chance to renew our acquaintance with you and discuss any other matters with which we may be able to help.
If you have opted for the annual, you will receive the first year payment from us, but in the future the utility company concerned will send the cheque direct to you.

8)  Payment of our fees.
NO WIN NO FEE
BT
When you are handed your BT cheque we will at the same time require from you the balance of our fees based on 15% of BT calculation of the capitalised value less the deposit already paid.  All our charges are liable to VAT at the current rate.  Please see description of Payments/Fees & receipt.
BT Arrears
In the event of this occurring we will charge 20% on amounts received.  This at the present day is subject to high level negotiation between the CLA, NFU, BT and government departments.

9)  Electricity Utilities
You will be asked to pay a fee to cover our expenses.
These fees are worked out as follows:
If no improvement is made on your electricity wayleave payment - no fee is payable.
If annual payments are increased - fees equal to the increased amount, will be charged.
If arrears are found to be due - fees equal to 20% of the arrears, plus the increase.

For example Mr Xs electricity wayleave payments were underpaid by £36.00 per year, so his annual payment increased from £100.00 to £136.00.
It was also found that his payments had not been correct for some years previously, thus entitling him to arrears, totalling £200.00.
Therefore our bill would be calculated thus:
Amount increased  = £36.00
+ 20% arrears        = £40.00
Total fees              = £76.00

It is our policy not to charge clients if the improvement is less than £10.00, so you cannot really lose.

I hope this information has helped to explain how your wayleave claim works and how it affects you.  If you have any questions with regards to any of the matters mentioned, we would be delighted to hear from you.

 

E & O.E.