Do you need your landlord's permission to get full fibre?

• ✓Openreach tells landlords that their permission is needed before any full fibre installation work can begin, and it provides consent forms for them to sign.
• ✓The work runs a fibre cable from a nearby pole or underground to a small junction box on an outside wall, then through a 12mm hole to an ONT box inside, which your router plugs into.
• ✓The boxes are about 15cm by 13cm outside and 13cm by 11cm inside. Openreach says installation is free, standard installations do not need planning permission, and it covers the cost of repairs if its engineers cause damage.
• ✓Openreach's installation checklist asks renters to have the landlord's permission for any drilling inside or outside before the engineer arrives.
• ✓Citizens Advice says to check your tenancy agreement too, which might say you cannot switch internet, landline or TV provider, and to ask your landlord if a change involves drilling holes for cables or putting up a satellite dish.

Sources: Openreach: landlords, single dwelling unit (read 15 October 2026); Openreach: what will happen during my Full Fibre installation (read 15 October 2026); Citizens Advice: check how to switch your internet, phone or TV provider (read 15 October 2026)

• ✓Before Openreach can install full fibre in a block of flats, it needs permission from the freeholder or managing agent to access the building. That permission is a wayleave.
• ✓For buildings built before 2000, Openreach also needs a copy of the building's asbestos register before it can survey or start work.
• ✓Openreach says the process from survey to completion can take several months after the wayleave is signed, and that installation costs landlords and tenants nothing.
• ✓Tenants can help by putting Openreach in touch with the right person, whether that is the managing agent, freeholder, housing association or landlord. Its registration form is for landlords, freeholders and managing agents, and tenants should contact their broadband provider.
• ✓Fibre can be installed however many residents are interested, Openreach says, and nobody has to use it once it is in.

Sources: Openreach: landlords, multi dwelling unit (read 15 October 2026); Openreach: broadband and wayleaves for landlords (read 15 October 2026)

• ✓In May 2025, peers proposed adding a right for private tenants to request full fibre to the Renters' Rights Bill. Landlords could not have refused unreasonably and would have had to reply within 28 days.
• ✓The government opposed it, saying slow rollout was mainly a problem in blocks of flats rather than across renting, and that it needed to consider how to target any intervention. The amendment was withdrawn after debate.
• ✓In England and Wales, the government then consulted, from 15 December 2025 to 16 February 2026, on a new right for flat leaseholders to request a gigabit-capable connection.
• ✓Its proposals say a leaseholder who lets out a flat could still use that right for their tenant, and asked whether renters need help of their own. On 15 October 2026 the government was still analysing the responses.

Sources: Hansard: Renters' Rights Bill, House of Lords, 6 May 2025 (read 15 October 2026); UK Parliament Bills: Renters' Rights Bill, right to request FTTP amendment (read 15 October 2026); GOV.UK: legislative proposals to address broadband rollout in leasehold flats (read 15 October 2026); GOV.UK: leasehold flats broadband proposals, consultation document (read 15 October 2026)

• ✓The government's guidance describes a route through the courts, called Part 4A, that providers can use to get access to a block of flats when a tenant has asked for a service and the landlord repeatedly fails to respond.
• ✓It has applied in England and Wales since 26 December 2022 and in Scotland since 1 July 2023.
• ✓The provider has to send the landlord four notices first: a request, two warning notices at least seven days after the request, and a final notice giving 14 days to respond.
• ✓The guidance says the route exists so that a landlord's silence alone cannot block a service. Ask your chosen provider whether it uses it.

Sources: GOV.UK: Electronic Communications Code, Part 4A guidance (read 15 October 2026); legislation.gov.uk: Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Act 2021, section 1 (read 15 October 2026)

• ✓Openreach asks renters for landlord approval when drilling is required, so if the home already has fibre from an earlier installation, ask your provider whether any new work is needed.
• ✓Ofcom says that if you cannot get a decent fibre or cable connection, broadband using 5G mobile data or a satellite connection is worth a look.
• ✓Ofcom adds that speeds and reliability on these wireless services can change depending on where you live, so check mobile coverage at the address on its checker first.
• ✓A satellite dish is an alteration too: Citizens Advice says a landlord might say no to drilling holes for cables or putting up a satellite dish.
• ✓Shelter's advice for tenants in England is not to make improvements without the landlord's permission, because the landlord might ask you to change things back or keep your deposit.

Sources: Openreach: what will happen during my Full Fibre installation (read 15 October 2026); Ofcom: choose the right broadband for your needs (read 15 October 2026); Citizens Advice: check how to switch your internet, phone or TV provider (read 15 October 2026); Shelter England: making improvements to your rented home (read 15 October 2026)

• ✓Taupia keeps your broadband bill, monthly price and contract end date in one place, alongside energy, mobile and water.
• ✓It compares broadband deals and switches once your household approves.
• ✓In a shared house it splits the broadband bill between housemates and tracks who has paid. It never moves money itself.
• ✓Permission for any installation stays between you and your landlord. Taupia is free.