Fibre availability difference by tiny address change

I'm about to move to a new property, an apartment (one of four) in a townhouse in Bristol.

Using the postcode on the availabilty checkers, and selecting the address (including the apartment number) shows that fibre isn't available. However, also on the address drop down is the full address, just without the apartment number. Selecting this shows full fibre availabilty. So fibre is definitely there. Similar happens if I select neighbouring properties and their equivalent apartments.

Considering the apartment is at street level, why is there this discrepancy, and can I actually get full fibre?

Sounds to me like fibre is available to the building itself.

How you would go about getting it is another matter. Who owns the building?

It's a leasehold apartment I'm buying, so there is a 'landlord' who owns the building, but it's really just a management company that I would be buying into when I purchase the property. It's literally just 4 apartments in one building, not a tower block or anything 🤣

My apartment has access to the street if an engineer needs to route anything in. I'm with Zen at my current property and happy to keep using them. Is it worth just ringing them to get things moving, and just giving them the option which has fibre available listed?

If its a road full of full fibre and your apartment/building is one of very few that doesn't have access to it then its either one of two things I suspect.

1) Database error
2) Management company hasn't given permission as they are requesting a wayleave payment.

The "problem" is the same whether there's 100 apartments or just 2. Ideally the owner of the freehold would agree a wayleave for permission to access the building, in this case the management company.

However there was a new law passed in 2021 to make things easier (https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2021/03/new-uk-law-passed-to-spread-gigabit-broadband-into-big-buildings.html) if the landlord fails to respond.

Speak to Zen, I doubt it's the first time they'll have come across this situation and hopefully they can guide you.

If you are on the ground level and not fed from a pole then I would place the order for the address that can receive service and meet the installer on the day. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

I have successfully done this in a property that is part of the Crown Estate by claiming that Openreach installing an FTTP service where copper already existed was simply a cable replacement that is part of the maintenance of the network that the wayleave already permitted.

Edited by jpm (Tue 21-Feb-23 14:29:57)

Wondering if it is possible that the management company have a live fibre connection to the property and then are selling it on and distributing it to the apartments within? I don't know if this is possible or likely but it would explain why there is only 1 fibre connection showing to the address. Are you buying - if so your solicitor could ask the question. If you are renting then ask the people you are renting from.

Which availability checker are you using to check its availability?

Some online websites don't show any FTTP availability as they fail to recognize that it's available. The official ISP website will show it's available.

For example https://bidb.uk/ will show some postcodes as not live while others of the same building addresses as live.

E.g. Uswitch fails to list Community Fibre as available for my postcode but others will show as available.

The best you can do is take a visit to the apartment and see if there are any fibre cables entering that property. If other flats within that apartment have FTTP then more than likely you will have it too.

You can also check by entering the name of the apartment building rather than the postcode to see if the checker wherever you are looking at to see if it will show up as available.

Yeah, I'm buying. I don't think the management company is that sophisticated to be honest 😂 I'll make enquiries though. I think it's far more likely that fibre is available on the street but Openreach just have no record of a wayleave for the apartments hence why they're not showing up as available.

I've tried a few, starting with the one on the Zen website, but have also tried the Openreach one directly, and they're all similar, if they show the overall building as a distinct address (a few don't).

There are cables entering the building by the communal front door but I wouldn't be able to tell if they are specifically fibre ones. I could hazard a guess that none of the other 3 apartments has yet switched to fibre. The building next door is offices and shows up as available on the checkers for some of the names entries so I might take a gander to see if they have fibre looking cables entering somewhere...