Does a Home Owner Association OR Apartment Leasing Co. Have the right to require only Time Warner OR AT&T as a consumer (Los Angeles: HOA)

[fight4rights]

I rented a place here in Los Angeles, Hollywood, and The Leasing Agency and Building Owners have an apparent agreement with Time Warner and AT&T for tenants to only use these two services, and AT&T is the worst. Is this against the consumer rights and illegal and should I start an immediate class action suit? Because I have been lied to consistently on many subjects before acquiring tenancy in this building. This is one area where the owners are receiving kickbacks from the agreement; this was told to me by AT&T.

[Bruin Rick]

Originally Posted by fight4rights

I rented a place here in Los Angeles, Hollywood, and The Leasing Agency and Building Owners have an apparent agreement with Time Warner and AT&T for tenants to only use these two services, and AT&T is the worst. Is this against the consumer rights and illegal and should I start an immediate class action suit? Because I have been lied to consistently on many subjects before acquiring tenancy in this building. This is one area where the owners are receiving kickbacks from the agreement; this was told to me by AT&T.

It is up to the landlord who you get your cable and phone from. On the other hand, if you own, an HOA may not tell you whom you can get those services from. At least that is my understanding of the way things work.

[2Easy]

I must be out of the loop since I have DirecTV. You can choose from multiple cable companies now? It used to be that you could only choose from the one that the city allowed to run cable whether you owned or rented.

[Hemlock140]

They own the building, and therefore the right to decide who puts holes in their walls and wiring in. It should be disclosed, however before you sing the lease. Still, I doubt many people would pass up an otherwise great unit just because it has the wrong TV provider.

[ibejohn818]

Most of the time it's just a logistics issue where other cable companies do not have repeaters in the area for their service to reach your residence. It's only when there is a high demand from the company that they will invest in putting repeaters in the area and making deals to connect to the shared cabling. Or, your HOA can contact the other companies and fork out the money to have the equipment installed to reach your residence.

[bhcompy]

Originally Posted by 2Easy

I must be out of the loop since I have DirecTV. You can choose from multiple cable companies now? It used to be that you could only choose from the one that the city allowed to run cable whether you owned or rented.

AT&T would be U-verse, which isn't cable by the traditional definition.

[readymade]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

Still, I doubt many people would pass up an otherwise great unit just because it has the wrong TV provider.

I would. I wouldn't live anywhere that had AT&T as the only internet provider. I work from home and need my internet to actually... work.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by readymade

I would. I wouldn't live anywhere that had AT&T as the only internet provider. I work from home and need my internet to actually... work.

Yeah AT&T is one of the few companies I 100% refuse to become a customer of again.

[BRinSM]

i guess it's fairly common for the dish companies to be disallowed in a building. i think it's usually an aesthetics issue. as for being limited to at&t or time warner, what other options would you have? i know verizon has dsl and fios, but those are also limited in service area. if verizon isn't available in your building and having a dish is not allowed, i'd say your lucky to have an option other than time warner.