DTV: Shared roof hookups

[hangglider]

Background: City rowhouse that we own has multiple units on different floors, and the resident on the top floor has existing DTV service. We had the DTV guy out today to do some maintenance.

We discovered that the neighboring buildings on both sides have taps into our dish. A few years ago, one of those buildings had about five assorted dishes. Now, they are all gone, and there are multiple hookups leading to the single dish on our roof.

No one ever called or asked about doing this. I suppose if it were the electric company or the phone company, it would be ok, and they probably do it all the time. But someone had to have walked across our roof, which is risky.

I am not worried about theft, since I'm sure all these accounts have their own boxes anyway, and that's how DTV is billed. And I guess it looks better than the alternative of a dozen dishes up on the roof that would otherwise make it look like a spy station. But don't the installers need permission before egress? What's to stop me (or the upstairs tenant) from just dismantling the darn thing?

There are also numerous holes that were drilled in the mortar of the chimney. These holes are right next to the existing DTV dish. Does DTV go around drilling holes like that? That exposes the chimney to potential water damage.

Final question: does this setup pose signal degradation issues?

Thanks!

 

[boba]

You ask a lot of questions best answered by a lawyer.

If I owned the house I would cut all lines multiple times that aren't connected from my property.

 

[jdspencer]

Who pays for a maintenance call on the dish?

What dish is it?

 

[mdram]

what did the dtv guy say?

 

[markfp-1]

Did you talk with the neighboring buildings' owners to find out how it happened? That's the first thing I'd do before doing anything else. Could have also been a mistake on the installers part who thought they were all one property. After you know the facts you can decide what you want to do.

If you didn't give DirecTV permission then I think you have every right to ask them to disconnect the other houses. On the other hand if you like your neighbors (who actually may not be at fault here) and there's no real harm done, you might want to consider letting the arrangement stay as is under the condition that no future hookups can be added and nobody can have access to your roof without your written permission. As for the cost of a service call, agree that whoever has the problem and makes the call pays the bill.

I know some folks are saying call your lawyer or take an ax to the cables, but I usually find it's a lot simpler to get the facts first and then talk to the people involved. If worse comes to worse you still have those other options.