Forced to remove satellite dish?

B

ButtermilkJa

Registered User
Messages
660
Just wondering if anyone else has received a letter from their management company telling them to remove satellite dishes from balconies as they are in breach of the lease agreement? has it ever been followed through?

I've been told they will be removed in 7 days by the management company and the cost sent to me... €85.
 
Thanks for the replies. I've been reading a number of the previous threads and there's some great info.

I knew at the time I bought my apt that no dishes were allowed and I was ok with that. Didn't bother me either way. However, I was forced to sign up for Chorus or have no TV. The apt was piped for Chorus and I was told NTL or any other service was not available in the development. I reluctantly signed for Chorus but after months of frustrating service, poor reception, no additional channels etc etc etc, I decided to go for Sky. I looked around the estate and saw numerous dishes erected and as the estate was a few years old I thought it would not be an issue. I do realise just because everybody is doing it doesn't make it right, but I went for it anyway.

Now I receive this heavy-handed letter telling me to remove it within 7 days or else. Considering that every time I try to contact the management company about something I'm ignored or told 'Sorry there's nothing we can do...' I find this quite insulting to be honest.

I do realise they are within their rights, so I suppose the only thing I can do is ask them nicely to allow me to see out my contract with Sky... another 7 months.
 
Why not try & get some of your other issues resolved in return for taking down the dish.
 
I would try that only they were small issues which I ended up resolving each time myself.

I wonder if a note was posted in all residents post boxes then perhaps we could call an EGM as suggested and vote on it. Perhaps if most people are in favour of keeping them then perhaps we could try and change the rules.

Although to be honest I'd imagine the Management Company are only reacting to residents complaints so perhaps this approach is not worth trying?
 
Personally I'd get just as heavy handed with the management company. Get onto them and give them absolute hell over the phone. And I do mean hell. You might be in breach of the contract but to be honest it's obvious that you have little choice in the matter in terms of quality of TV so I don't think it's as black and white as they're making out. Tell them they'll remove the dish over your dead body and if they continue with the heavy handed and insulting approach you will be onto Joe Duffy and the Sunday World yadda yadda. You'd be surprised how this type of barking back approach can change their tune.

At the end of the day what have you got to lose? They ignore you anyway so being on bad turns with them makes no differnce.
 
what about the option of a communal sky dish. i know that here in the UK, they do the installation for free if 3 or more flats in a block sign up ?
 
Get yourself one of these:


I have one on balcony, mgmt have never noticed it.
 
Maybe you should have some respect for your fellow residents and comply with your lease?!
Not being able to have a satellite dish or dry clothes on your balcony is annoying but comes with the territory. It's unsightly and lowers the tone of the complex...do the decent thing and take it down.
 
That digiglobe is cool !

Just a reminder to the likes of Gabriel, a management company is a collection of the residents who look after everyones interest.

I reckon you should buy one of the digiglobes and bring it to a residents meeting, it might be a happy compromise which still maintains the aesthetic concerns that they have
 
It's unsightly and lowers the tone of the complex...do the decent thing and take it down.

For real ? lowering the tone ..........................................
Sure its only a block of flats, Lighten up.
 
I am a director on my management company and find the attutide of a lot of the others to be verging on the fascist. I have a sneaky clothes line. I heard them telling other to buy tumble driers, but I feel like forcing a vote, using the carbon emission argument.
I seriously would consider contacting sky about a communal dish. The other here have agreed in principle to that. I do agree that each place having its own dish does lower the tone a bit, but NTL and chorus can get away with very poor service because of these rules.
 
APHRODITE said:
It's unsightly and lowers the tone of the complex...do the decent thing and take it down.

For real ? lowering the tone ..........................................
Sure its only a block of flats, Lighten up.
Click to expand...

I live an apartment complex and have NTL which I don't like at all. What I want is Sky+ but I can't have it because it's the collective view of the residents that satellite dishes all over the place are unsightly and would lower the tone of the complex. I happen to agree with this.
Similarly having to dry laundry in my spare room is not ideal as it leads to damp etc. But I don't dry clothes on the balcony out of respect for others as it looks horrendous.
Imagine how annoying it is for people who follow the rules to see satellite dishes and laundry?
Communal living is about respect for your neighbours...if you want a satellite dish, buy a house. Otherwise get cable like the rest of your neighbours have to.
 
this thread brings me back to the old question "What do you call the little box on a satellite dish" ?..................."A council house" !
 
KalEl said:
Maybe you should have some respect for your fellow residents and comply with your lease?!...
Click to expand...
First of all I do have respect for my fellow resident's. More respect than any of them would ever have for me to be perfectly honest.
KalEl said:
...It's unsightly and lowers the tone of the complex...do the decent thing and take it down.
Click to expand...
Absolute nonsense imo. It's a small dish 2 foot wide that you can hardly notice as you drive by my apartment. As it's a Sky dish it's black and blends in quite well.

Granted, some people may find it unsightly, but I find a 15-year-old rusted banger parked outside someone's house unsightly but I don't ask them to remove it or tell them to buy a new car or I will remove their old one and post them the bill!
 
what i do find interesting and seems to be missed is that the appartment was perewired for chorus and the buyers don't seem to be given a choice, which i believe is illegal if this was not bought to your attention in the contract. What i would like to know if the management company is receiving a cut/commission for giving chorus sole TV rights to the complex, which would be more of an issue than giving the reason that they are unsightly, which i find a bit lame to be honest...check you contract also is the management company in the residents hands or builders?
 
The Competition Authority was contacted on the issue of TV service provision in the case of our former development and wasn't interested apparently. I don't see the NCA having anything to say on the issue either.

NTL were ready and willing to provide a service only when the development was handed over to the owners, but not before that time.

Now that NTL and Chorus are one and the same, that won't make much difference to anyone who has Chorus.

As far as I know, there is nothing illegal about one cable provider having exclusive access to a given development. If the development has been handed over to the owners, it may be in there hands if they wish to get a new provider, or change the rules in the lease.

This presupposes that any contracts (with the cable provider and the leasehold agreement) can be varied at will.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top