Persimmon sues BT

PERSIMMON is suing BT for failing to pay for highspeed internet connections at hundreds of new homes.

The housebuilder claims BT owes £7.2m plus interest to cover the cost of phone lines and internet cables installed on 750 sites between 2008 and 2016.

BT and its subsidiary Openreach are obliged to pay home builders for installation and for engineers to inspect the work.

In court documents Persimmon said BT ‘has frustrated the process of inspection and certification’.

The breaches of contract include failure or refusal to inspect the installation of infrastructure, check quality or pay invoices, they said. BT and Persimmon declined to comment.