Trees on Common Area Blocking Satellite Dish

Is relocating the satellite dish an option?

California has some fairly strict rules about HOA boards taking action outside of a meeting. Hopefully a California expert can weigh in. Remember, your board members are volunteers. They have probably scheduled this meeting around their jobs, families, etc. Asking them to drop everything and schedule an emergency meeting so you can watch TV is a bit of an imposition.

Typically CC&R's have broad powers to hire a contractor outside of a board meeting and putting it on an agenda to vote on. That power usually extends to
extreme circumstances like an imminent treat to safety, like a fallen branch from a storm or a root is growing parallel to the ground causing a trip hazard. I don't
believe that a tree blocking your satellite signal qualifies. I would contact DTV and ask where the dish could be moved to avoid this in the future and get the input
and approval via an ARC through your community property manager.

Yes you do pay a fee for them to"deal with stuff like this" but they are willing to deal with it. You just don't like their schedule. If there is a new expense, like trimming the trees, they need to vote to approve. If by law they need a meeting to do this, they will do it at their next scheduled meeting. I hope that enough directors show up and they don't have to postpone it a month.... Are you planning on attending the meeting? You might request that they expand the locations allowed for a dish so that this doesn't happen again in the future (you being without TV due to trees in the way)

Yes, Dick, my quality of life is effected because I am unable to relax and watch TV after a long day of work. We have had the satellite dish for over 3 years without any issues. Are you suggesting that the HOA/property management should let the trees grow forever without any landscaping?



Thank you to both of you for helpful advice. I will try to get approval to relocate the dish, at least until they are able to deal with the trees.

Dick??? Really

You can not force the Association to prune or remove common area trees due to blockage of satellite signal. This would be the same if it was your neighbors tree was blocking.

You can move your dish or investigate a different service.

Depends who you ask

Nothing moves fast in a HOA. Your lucky they are putting it on the schedule at all. Plus even if they approve the work to be done, it's going to take quite awhile more to get bids. That process and the work itself can take months IF the HOA has the money.

Now as for the trees being the source of your blockage of signal... I am highly doubting that. It's probably more like your dish needs to be recalibrated to the satellite. Plus DirectTV isn't known for it's great reception.

Knowing something about electronics... Satellite dishes don't necessarily work like if your remote control on your TV if something is put in front of the receiver. It's wireless signal. A tree is not blocking that signal. It's more like your satellite dish is not focused correctly. Call the Tech and see if it can be adjusted.

Melissa,

I am a broadcast engineer.

Trees do block satellite signals.
So does rain.
Satellite transmission requires line of sight.

In fact, you could have good reception in the winter when the leaves have fallen and bad or no reception in the spring when the leaves are on the trees.

Heck, we even had a crane block a micro wave path for awhile.

Yes, it is possible that a wind storm moved the dish off the bird or a new bird was moved near but not in place of the old bird. (bird being the satellite). However, it's also possible the trees finally grew tall enough to be an issue.

See:

Satellite Technologies

Less technical version:

How Satellite TV Works

Geno’s on point.

I’d do a quick, nice letter framing the issue, the. Note there are a couple of colutions:
1. Immediate tree trimming by HOA to restore your service. I would note this would be required every few years as tree growth continues. In other words, this is not the best semi-permanent solution.
2. Immediate approval to move your sat antenna to a location that would generally ensure longer term separation from tree growth. I would provide some references to the OTARD topic, including citations where the HOA lost in court.

I would ask for either email consideration and approval by the Board, or a special meeting - the trees, common property, are diminishing your quality of life.

Offer the Board an easy out ....

Tim,

I agree, but asking and working with the Board is usually easier than just doing something.

Remember, the Board could still sue the OP for moving it, but would likely lose ...OP might, depending on state, still end up paying for the defense ...

Nope. I agree with you 100%.

Selfish? Get off your high horse. The dish is located where the HOA told us was the only place we could put it to begin with!

And this hasn't been a problem for years - I would expect tree trimming to be done at least ONCE or TWICE during that time, wouldn't you?

I think I've been nice and appreciative of the helpful responses here, but that last post didn't offer any info at all other than to call me 'selfish' for following the HOA rules to begin with.

I strongly suggest that you post your problem in the ASK THE EXPERT thread.

You do not have to listen to the HOA when they tell you where you may put the dish. Federal regulations preempt the HOA's rules and regulations. They cannot even require you to ask for permission ahead of time. If you own the property you can put a dish up wherever your heart desires.

If you're addicted to television, like 99.9% of Americans are, then it might serve your interests to work with your BOD to come to some sort of accommodation with the main goal being to get your idiot-tube fix flowing again as soon as possible.

If the association tries to take action against you, you can fight it in court (or whatever the CA dispute process involves) and YOU WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY WIN and be able to recoup all your legal costs and attorney fees.

However, you have no right to expect them to remove any obstacles, like tree branches, that are obstructing your dish's line-of-sight to the satellite. Move the dish and tell them to stick their objections where the sun don't shine. Wave the FCC's OTARD regulation in their faces. Your choice. Post in the ASK THE EXPERT thread. The broadcast satellite industry pays people to monitor that thread and they will help you.

We have a board member bound and determined to violate a homeowner who has a dish on his roof. I keep telling him we can't do that. I've showed him the OTARD regulation. It goes in one eye and out the other. He still thinks the owner has to comply with our "no dishes on the roof" rule. I keep telling him "no". He doesn't listen.

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink, I suppose.

I would doubt the HOA will incur the expense of removing trees to clear the sight-line of a satellite dish.

If trimming is an option, I'd recommend the homeowner, under HOA board oversight, cover the cost of a tree trimming. Letting trees naturally grow is not a symptom of neglectful landscaping management.

This is a slippery slope. My HOA started doing this 20 years ago and that policy has devolved to the point that most requests for approval for landscaping changes result in a "we can't afford that but if you want to pay for it we'll allow it" response. All our landscaping is on common property and it's the obligation of the association to maintain it.

We're re-doing about 6 concrete driveways next month. All are common property. One owner wants his done, too, but he's not on the list. He offered to pay for the work on his out of his own pocket. If we allow that then within a few years half of the homeowners will want to do the same thing and pay for new driveways themselves. The other half will be clamoring for new driveways, too, and the response will be, "Why don't you do it and pay for it yourself? All these other owners did it that way!"

I'm not OK with that course of action. All of our driveways are on common property and the CC&Rs require the HOA to maintain, repair and replace the driveways. Letting the camel get his nose under the tent is a surefire recipe for the association to start excusing itself from its responsibilities in the future. It will lead to 2 classes of owners: those who can afford to pay for the maintenance that the HOA claims it cannot afford, and those who can't. Those who can't agreed to the same CC&Rs as everyone else.

First see if you can get the dish company to move the disk. That would be my first option. If that doesn't work out, let the HOA know that the trees are blocking the reception and you will be seeking reimbursement for the months that your signal has been blocked. That's assuming the tree trimming is their responsibility and they told you where to place the dish. Ask that they call a special meeting or possibly do an Action without Meeting through texts and emails. Document everything.

I'm with you. The TV is part of enjoying my life. There's a weather girl that is better than coffee at getting me going in the morning!

Good Luck!