$270 for new phone line connection?

[rexilla99]

Just received the statement to pay $270 phone line connection. I know that in my contract I have to provide the tennent with a phone line for a house in Brisbane.

To my knowledge there is already phone lines connected to 3 rooms of the house, this is a brand new house, I don't see why optus is charging me $270 for. Is $270 for phone line only or am I paying for Foxtel/optus vision as well?

 

[George]

Payment is to connect street box to home, any extra work would be extra, but looks that you have all the wires inside ready.

 

[letiha]

Yes, you do have to pay,.

I moved into a brand new rental last year and my my mum last week, we both got billed the connection fee. I think we had to pay about $50 which is the standard connection fee, the extra is what the landlord payed, I am pretty sure this is standard in all new homes the telstra (even if its optus)tech guy gomes out and actually does some stuff with the wires out the front of the house and basically connects the service.

 

[chrispy]

No you do not have to pay in these days of mobile phones it is not necessary to supply tenants with land line according to my PM.

I had phone installed in one of townhouses, then it was vacant for a while when it was being renovated. When tenant moved in Telstra asked for $290 to re-connect because Telstra had removed connection to another townhouse in same block, so was asking me to pay a second time. I refused. Tenant was on a 6 month lease and stating they did not intend to stay beyond 6 months, as they wanted to move into house.

PM said I was within my rights to refuse to pay. Tenant used mobile phone. I did however pay for installation of new tv antenae as old one was really not working after reno.

Chris

 

[geoffw]

No you do not have to pay in these days of mobile phones it is not necessary to supply tenants with land line according to my PM.

To be fair to a tenant- they can't have broadband (yet) at a reasonable cost without a landline. Dialup would be expensive.

Even a mobile just used for phone calls could be a lot more expensive than a landline.

 

[chrispy]

Geoff

I agree with you but the question was do you have to pay? I was answering the question.

Under normal circumstances I would not hesitate but I had already paid it once in the instance I mentioned and it was a very short term lease.

I have another unit in Melbourne where I put the phone on and the tenant had it taken off as she only wanted to use her mobile, she did not want to pay for landline as well!!

As with all rentals there is never one size fits all!!!

Chris

 

[lizzie]

as an ex-telstra employee ... what happens is that during construction all lines are run into, and in, the house thru the walls etc (just like the power and water), but unlike the electrician and plumber, no one pays for this work to be done until the phone is connected for the first time.

that's why you have this bill, and it is legit.

 

[jbk]

my understanding was this is now not the landlords responsibility in our current rental place we as tenants were told we had to fork out and when we rang rta we were told we could actually get in trouble for having the connection done without the lanlords approval if they wanted to be nasty

 

[tubs]

Chrispy - I remember in a flat my g/f rented a few years ago, there was no phone connection (Telstra had removed it for another property) and it was the landlord who had to pay to have it reconnected. Since there was a phone outlet, its assumed that its working, and available.

Surprised you got away with not connecting it!

 

[RichardK]

rexilla, the $270 is to connect the phone sockets in the house to the outside cabling, and do all the jumpering of the pair from the house through all the connections back to the telephone exchange - you've seen Telstra guys on street corners working on a 'cylinder' of wires, or you've seen them in pits working on what looks like 2000 wires.

The $270 is a one off fee. When tenant moves out and cancels phone service, the next tenant pays $69 / $125 for Telstra to reactivate dial tone/service down the existing pair that goes from exchange to house - providing Telstra hasn't reallocated part of that pair to someone else, and needs to send Telstra guys out in the street to reconnect you through a different set of cables - that'll cost another $270

 

[Peggle]

Just received the statement to pay $270 phone line connection. I know that in my contract I have to provide the tennent with a phone line for a house in Brisbane.

To my knowledge there is already phone lines connected to 3 rooms of the house, this is a brand new house, I don't see why optus is charging me $270 for. Is $270 for phone line only or am I paying for Foxtel/optus vision as well?

Just a couple of random personal thoughts to be taken with a grain of salt ...............your contract says you have to provide a phone line for the house, BUT is there any stipulation that it has to be connected? You have provided the "facility", it really should be up to the tenant as to whether or not they want it connected, if so maybe they should be prepared to pay for the connection.

Also, though it's probably irrelevant to the question, if memory serves me correctly, Telstra are only responsible for lines to the first outlet in a property.

 

[lizzie]

i guess this all comes down to an ethical question of what, as a landlord, you feel comfortable with.

i expect my tenant to pay for their own phone connection - but only to the expense of "an existing line in place". around $60.

in our new rebuild, i paid the difference between this and the new line costs.

 

[Aimjoy]

Just my experience with an IP about 12 months ago.

If the tenant comes in and a service is existing, then they pay $69 or $70 to take it over in their name.

If no service then as a landlord I was responsible to provide it at $270 or whatever the going rate was at the time.

My PM said that she advised most of her landlords to pay $200 with the tenant contributing the $70 balance which they would have been up for anyway if the service existed and they wanted to take it on.

This arrangement worked for me and the incoming tenant - all happy.

Cheers,
Aimjoy

 

[Bandita]

Just read this thread - so suprised!! Landlords pay for your phone connection?!? Is this true in Melbourne (I'm thinking as a tenant by the way ) I paid alot of $$'s to get our phone connected where we are renting - how do you possibly charge this to the landlord - when you talk to the phone company, they want all your billing details, etc - I can't imagine you can say "bill that connection charge to landlord"? Or maybe you can? We're moving soon - would be interested to understand how it works for the next one (remember I'm from the USA originally )

Cheers,
Jen

 

[tubs]

Landlords pay for the phone connection to the property, but not for getting the phone activated in the tenant's name. If there's a phone connection in the house it must be working, and as long as it is, that's the end of the landlord's responsibility. The tenant can decide if they want to use it or not, and pay to have it connected in their name.

 

[JFisher]

I think this is one of those situations where it is all in the 'wording'. Two people saying the same word but the meaning (or implied meaning) is different.

For example - When we build a house Telstra pay for one line to the first point in the house and we call this provision a 'lead in' but refer to it in our contract as 'a phone point is supplied'. Our contract also stipulates that the phone 'connection' (the act of attaching an account and phone number) is paid by the owner.
As the connection of a phone can only be done by the person who is paying the account (privacy laws) then I would presume that a rental agreement would be similar to a building contract in regards to phone supply. You supply the infrastructure and if they choose to use it or not, it is their decision.