Old Utility Easement
wondercabinet
Enthusiast - Level 1

We have a parcel of land which has a really really old phone company utility easement from pre-1976.  At that time, the phone company was called Cheasapeake and Potomac Telegraph and Telephone company.  In the 80s, the company was called Bell Atlantic, and they put a phone utility cable marker on the property.  As far as we know, they never laid any cables there.

Since the 80s, I believe the phone company has been sold a couple more times to AT&T and now, Verizon.  How do we find out if this easement is still owned by the phone company and who has records for easements?  

There is absolutely nothing on the website, phone customer service is completely unhelpful and unknowledgeable, and a big churning wheel of nothing.  The county (Loudoun County Virginia) advises that to discover who has the easement, one must contact the current phone company, which is Verizon.  

Does anyone have contact information about who I should call to obtain this sort of information?

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Re: Old Utility Easement
tns2
Community Leader
Community Leader

Did AT&T ever have control in modern days.  Bellatlantic, after a merger, renamed itself Verizon and would be my guess they still have the easement,  (just a peer here so really don't know)

Different ways to check in different area.  E.g contact them(1-800-verizon?),  call 811 to have such things maked (coulde be an underground line), etc.

Re: Old Utility Easement
wondercabinet
Enthusiast - Level 1

I assume that that this particular easement was passed from company to company through time, but as I did not live around here in the 90s, I don't know whether AT&T actually was the provider at all.  However, the utility box installed on the property (no record of when that happened) has Bell Atlantic and a defunct "Call before your dig!" number.

I called 811, but they say to call "the utility company" in question.  So that brings me back to square one.

I finally got through to a live person at Verizon, who called the Engineering department and they are supposed to call her back with some advice on where to go for answers.  And then she is supposed to call me back.  Wish me luck!

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Re: Old Utility Easement
Gallop1
Newbie

Did you ever get this figured out?  I'm in a similar situation with an old AT&T Long Lines easement (which I'm told was transfered to Verizon) and I can't figure out who to contact in refference to it.  I can't seem to get a live person on the phone that's willing to help.

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Re: Old Utility Easement
wondercabinet
Enthusiast - Level 1

Hello,

Unfortunately, I have not had any luck clearing up this issue.  The furthest that I got was speaking to a customer service representative on the phone (after holding for an hour) who then transferred me to someone else, who then called the "Engineers" (whoever they are) and told me she would call me when they got back to her.  She has not called me an that was two weeks ago.  Seems like this is dead in the water, but I will keep trying.

Best of luck with your thing and post if you get an answer!

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