Only Virgin allowed in apartment block - is this legal?

eelgc

Hi,

I hope this is the appropriate forum for this. I have recently bought an apartment, and trying to get a phone line installed I have found out that, not only is there no BT line available, but the person who owns the land my flat is on has said that ONLY Virgin are allowed to put a cable into the building. Is this legal? It sounds like anti-competitive behaviour, for all I know the person could have an exclusivity deal with Virgin, which forces everybody in the building to go with them, even if all they want is the Internet.

Any advice on this would be appreciated! A google search didn't reveal too much (except that this is not legal in the States, which is not helpful).

Cheers!

Nilrem

The building owner is allowed to set conditions for who is allowed to do work on their property.

I doubt very much it's not allowed in the UK, as any company that wished to supply services to the building that required work (IE running the lines in) would need permission and the owner of the building can refuse it.

angelsmomma

Where I lived in a new build apartment we were only allowed Sky and it was a communal dish. No one was allowed under the lease to attach anything to the building. It was in the lease.

I imagine they had the virgin cables laid so that unsightly cables would not be visible around the apartment block. We were also not allowed washing lines in the communal gardens. We also had a bin store and heaven forbid we left any rubbish visible, it all had to be locked away out of sight. And of course the no pet clause that is usual in apartment block leases.

It was to keep the building looking good. Your solicitor should have mentioned it, if it was in the lease, before you purchased.

pocketslint

My housing provides a communal dish/aerial and bars any tenant from attaching anything to the exterior of the building for aesthetic reasons. I don't get a proper signal from their dish/aerial and have been fobbed off with excuses. Surely if I agree to their written tenancy agreement I am entitled to expect a basic service (freeview, bbc 1) regardless of the technical problems. Does anyone know where I stand exactly. Thanks as always, pox.