My two cents:
I am not on my HOA board. Though I've thought about it, and may run at some point. Mainly so that I can work toward more consistent enforcement of the rules in place (Like why they don't tell my neighbor to move the 5th wheel that he leaves on the curb for two weeks at a time, or why nobody asks these people to explain why they have 3 car garages, yet need to put all of their cars on the street). These rules are, for the most part, sensible, and work toward keeping the value of my property up, as well as my neighbors.
Some of the posters here have an obvious hatred for HOAs. And if you were to ask my opinion their feelings seem to be deeply rooted in the old redneck "It's my property and nobody's gonna tell me what to do with it." mentality. First of all, you live in a fantasy world if that's what you think. You had no "rights" until the FCC gave them to you. HOAs have certain powers granted to them by various state and federal statutes, regulations and case law. Not my opinion. Fact. If you want to spend your life and energy creating animosity with others, it's your right to do so. But wouldn't your time and energy be much better spent trying to have a dialogue with these people about why they think their rules are good for the neighborhood? Who knows, perhaps you and they could both learn something.
Others in this thread seem to be a little fearful of HOAs. No need. Know your HOA's rules, be willing to either accept and follow them, or work within the system to change them, BEFORE you sign the dotted line. If you obey the rules, or even violate them in good faith, everything will more than likely be OK.
Some here seem to be mis-interpreting the FCC rules. Nothing in the rules states that an HOA cannot tell you where to put your dish, as long as their requirements don't:
-- Delay you.
-- Cost you an unreasonable amount of money.
-- Cause you to have degraded service.
Let's look at my HOA's rules, for instance. They tell me that I have to send them a diagram of how I either intend to install, or how I installed my dish. They tell me that I need to put it in the back yard if that is feasible, and I need to try to keep it from being viewable from the street, if that is feasible.
Their rules do not violate any of the FCC's rules. When I installed my dish, I had a good place to mount it, out of view of the street, and which gave me a good signal. I could start mounting it whenever I wanted. If I had decided that I wanted to mount my dish on the front of my house (North side) "just because I wanted it there" the HOA would have been within their rights to rule me in violation, because their rules did not delay me, prevent me from getting a good signal, nor would they have caused me to incur unreasonable expense. On the other hand, had I not been able to get a good signal without mounting the dish on the front of my house, or in my front yard, for that matter, there's nothing the HOA could have done to stop me. Personally, I would have foregone satellite had I needed to put the dish in the front yard. But that's my personal decision, and moot in the legal discussion.
Another thing to keep in mind: I work in the legal field. There is no such thing as "The court will kick the HOA out in 10 minutes." Unless you can get stipulation between the parties on such things as "reasonable expense" the facts of the case must be proven. Any time that a phrase like "reasonable expense" is put into a law or regulation, it must be interpreted by the courts, and every jurisdiction is going to spend the time interpreting it the way they see it, until the highest court that oversees them, whether it be a state supreme court, or the federal supreme court clarifies the interpretation beyond ambiguity.
What's a "reasonable expense?" Might a court say that $100 for a dish movement is reasonable, considering that the owner of the dish is going to spend $95 a month on programming? They just well might.
I know that some of the folks in this thread feel a little oppressed by living in a society that needs laws to stop the most unethical, unreasonable and inconsiderate among us from trampling the rights of others. But you really should get over the need to strap that virtual six-shooter onto your hip.
I, personally, would tell you that, while I love the fact that the FCC rules are in place, and they are overall a fine way to balance the needs of the larger community with the rights of the individual, I would vehemently defend the right, and yes I said right, of the HOA to enforce it's reasonable and lawful rules.
What we never got from the orginal poster is whether there is a place on their property where the dish could have been located, that would have been unobtrusive, while still providing an economical, acceptable signal. And it appears to me that the HOA is just asking her to confirm that. It's not like a foreclosure notice has been nailed on the front door, for Christ's sake.
