Condo Associatio Problem, pls help !!

[bellwilliam]

hi, I really help on this issue. I have searched archives and still don't understand it.

1. I live in a 10 unit building. 5 are downstair units, 5 are upstair units. since I live in one of lower unit, I do not have access to rooftop. I do not have a south facing balcony.

2. a month ago, when Dish installer came, he installed it on a ledge near the roof. Unfortunately he did drill 4 holes to mount the dish. I had to ask one of my upstair neighbor to have access.

3. the dish I have is one of those dual NLB (for picking up signals from 2 satellite) setup, so it is elliptical, and pretty big in size.

4. this week, my condo association demanded I take the dish down. HOA said that ledge is a common area.

here are my questions:

1. I read the http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html
it said HOA can not exclude me from receiving satellite signal, but at the same time, HOA can restrict installation on common area. Since there is no way I can access satellite signal other than rooftop, what does the law say about restriction.

2. since I have the big dual NLB dish, it is impossible to mount on the exterior wall. is it impossible? or is there a way to mount it? is there a smaller dual NLB dish I can purchase? or can I break it down to 2 smaller dishes? this way, may be I can mount on my exterior wall (it will look really ugly though), although I would still need their permissions.

3. I offered HOA to have the dish reinstalled, w/o any drill through. How would I do that, can someone point me to the right pages.

Please help !!

thanks

bellwilliam

 

[slacker9876]

Bad news bear ...

hi, I really help on this issue. I have searched archives and still don't understand it.

1. I live in a 10 unit building. 5 are downstair units, 5 are upstair units. since I live in one of lower unit, I do not have access to rooftop. I do not have a south facing balcony.

2. a month ago, when Dish installer came, he installed it on a ledge near the roof. Unfortunately he did drill 4 holes to mount the dish. I had to ask one of my upstair neighbor to have access.

3. the dish I have is one of those dual NLB (for picking up signals from 2 satellite) setup, so it is elliptical, and pretty big in size.

4. this week, my condo association demanded I take the dish down. HOA said that ledge is a common area.

here are my questions:

1. I read the http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html
it said HOA can not exclude me from receiving satellite signal, but at the same time, HOA can restrict installation on common area. Since there is no way I can access satellite signal other than rooftop, what does the law say about restriction.

2. since I have the big dual NLB dish, it is impossible to mount on the exterior wall. is it impossible? or is there a way to mount it? is there a smaller dual NLB dish I can purchase? or can I break it down to 2 smaller dishes? this way, may be I can mount on my exterior wall (it will look really ugly though), although I would still need their permissions.

3. I offered HOA to have the dish reinstalled, w/o any drill through. How would I do that, can someone point me to the right pages.

Please help !!

thanks

bellwilliam

You association is correct, that stinks. The dish may only be installed in YOUR exclusive use area.

The outside walls (even on your unit) are common use also. Technically in the law with Condos You only own from the four inside walls. The roof and exterior are own by and are the responsibility of the HOA.

Your best best it to work with your HOA ... if you fight them ... you will lose. I would graciously apologize (perhaps even play dumb) and see what they are willing to let you do. I say this because a lot of HOA's just tell folk too bad .. get cable

 

[cdru]

2. since I have the big dual NLB dish, it is impossible to mount on the exterior wall. is it impossible? or is there a way to mount it? is there a smaller dual NLB dish I can purchase? or can I break it down to 2 smaller dishes? this way, may be I can mount on my exterior wall (it will look really ugly though), although I would still need their permissions.

There are smaller dishes, but you would need two of them. If your HOA raised a stink about 1, then they will raise a stink about 2. Mounting to an exterior wall with a penatrating mount would still violate your HOA rules. Common ways to get around this is to use some type of a clamp to a railing or fence post or a bucket of concrete with a pole in it. However, since you face the wrong way and you are on the bottom floor, you are likely SOL. Do you have a window facing the south in the direction of the satellites?

 

[bellwilliam]

Do you have a window facing the south in the direction of the satellites?

thanks for the answers so far, I guess I am really SOL !!

but I do have a window facing south.

I did talk to HOA, and they did mention they will let me install on the side of the wall of my apt unit.

thanks again !!

 

[bellwilliam]

can someone elaborate on windows facing south, does that mean I have another option ?

thanks !!

 

[jimisham]

I don't know how you're going to find them, but I have seen several threads about using a dish at a south facing window.
There are some things you'll have to take into consideration. One of them is the type of glass in the window. Another is, will you be able to see all three satellites.
Here's a link, using the sun and moon, http://perso.numericable.fr/~gjullien/satellite.htmthat will let you be able to determine if the satellite(s) can be seen from the window. The best time to do this is around the first week in October or March. You'll need to know your latitude and longitude.