Residential Real Estate Agent · Santa Barbara, CA · Member since 2012 · 233 posts · 45 votes
My tenant wants to get Satellite T.V. instead of cable..
I have never hung a satellite dish on my roof before... but Im guessing depending on the person doing the work it could possibly create damage if not done correctly..
Should I allow the tenant to go ahead with this? what are my risks?
anyone else had good or bad experiences with this?
@Tony Cavalli I don't allow unnecessary intrusions of my roof. I think the satellite companies have started requiring their installers to get property owner permission for these installs in my area. I've had several of them installed in the past without my consent, but over the last two years, I always get a call to ask and I say put it on a pole next to the house.
This is one of my pet peeves because the installers and tenants can be in an "I don't care where you drill holes, just get my satellite in every room" mode. When I can, I'm there when the installer is, so I can help him with decisions on where to drill or not.
I also don't want 20 feet of wire coming out of a hole in the wall. I like a low voltage outlet with a plate that the tenant can attach an RCA cable to in whatever length they need and it can be removed if its not used by the next tenant.
Thanks everyone! The Dish company did tell me that even if there is an old dish from the same company that they need to install a new one, which is insane, given that the old dish was put up less than a year ago.
No NO No, tell them to go with Comcast or Verizon or basic! Im sorry to say that cable guys are pigs (at least in Pittsburgh). I have a duplex with 3 direct tv dishes on the roof. Why the f do you need 3 dishes from the same company on a 2 unit building??? I consented to none of them, cable companies should know they need support of property owner before altering the property. They drill right through your shingles, and when they take them off, if ever, I caught them not caulking the holes!
Even standard cable companies, they run a million lines across your house, and anchor them by avoiding the mortar joints (where they should put their anchors) and blasting right through the face of the brick . Oh, theyre not a construction company, so they don't have new bits all the time so they may deface a large chunk of brick. Then what they do is piggishly smear clear silicone over the whole area.
That's my vent. My opinion is to your regular cable, and demand to be there while theyre installing. Make them run singular lines across your house the way you want. They automatically will go the easy route, so your right as a home owner is to tell them the way you want it done! Watch out for your drywall too!
Unfortunately, you cannot refuse to let them put up a satellite dish. Here's more info:
Federal Law
The Federal Communications Commission Order 98-273 prohibits landlords from restricting a renter's access to antennas or dishes as long as the installation meets certain criteria. Among the specifications outlined by the FCC are that direct-to-home satellite dishes must be less than 40 inches in diameter. The law states that landlords have the right to oversee the installation and to impose reasonable conditions when tenants seek to install satellite dishes.
Hope this helps.
I never heard this before. I HATE Satellite dishes and their lazy installers. Maybe like one poster said, have a clause that they can add one for a fee. A $400 fee haha.
we just had a satellite installed at our house due to not being able to get cable which is what I prefer. The installers mounted it on a plumbing vent tube which surprised me and it looks good plus no unessasry holes in my roof!
We allow our tenants to get satelite TV. Tell the tenants to have the dish put on a pole in the yard to avoid putting holes in the roof.
The installers don't care about your roof or walls when installing a dish and running wires. And over time you can accumulate multiple dishes on one building.
We have been lucky enough to find a company who offers dish AND direct tv. They install one dish on the building for dish network, and one dish for direct tv. Then they let tenants choose which service they want and all tenants can feed off of the same dish so we never end up with more than two dishes per building.