Dish Antenna

Hi,i bought this townhouse last year feb'04. Two weeks ago,
i submitted an application to install Dish antenna in front of
my house within my fence area. HOA rejected my application
saying,"they passed a new resolution sometime this feb" that
we cannot mount dish antennas in front of the house. We can
only mount it in the rear. But the dish guy said the dish has
to face towards south, in which case i won't receive any signal
from the rear side of the house, the only place he can install
it is in front of my house which the HOA is not allowing us.
In my street there are 24 houses out of which 12 have already
installed dish in front of the house before the resolution was
passed. The remaining 12 doesn't have a dish. None of the houses
in my street has installed dish at the back reason being they
couldn't receive signals.
Any suggestions on how to get the approval from the HOA..let me know.

It sounds from this article as if their restriction violates point one, and therefore is not a valid restriction.

The way they've outlined it is that by limiting us to only putting a dish up in the front of our house, they're "impairing the reception of an acceptable quality signal" - AND they're "preventing the use of" the dish as well.

So does that mean their restriction is not valid and we're justified in getting them to revise their restriction?

I have seen this situation in some of the Associations we have managed. The Homeowner wanted to put the dish somewhere the Association would not permit however, in order for the Homeowner to receive reception it could only go in this particular place. The Homeowner had to get a letter from the satelite company stating that the only place the Homeowner could get reception is if they installed it in a certain place. The Board for the Associations had to allow the satelite dish be installed.

From what I have read,"federal law states that restrictive covenants of the association may not impair the ability of an owner to receive video programming services over a satellite antenna which is less than one meter in diameter" page 98 of the Homeowners Association Manual written by Peter Dunbar and Marc Dunbar, available through amazon.com -- great read for HOA officers!

JamieW,

Thanks for the offer. I've sent an note to you privately with my email address. Please let me know if for some reason you did not receive it. I look forward to receiving the article from you - thanks in advance for your help.

We have an association meeting this Thursday (9/1) so any help that *anyone* would be able to provide to us in support of our case would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Just a thought...but now they also sell 'hide a dish' type accessories so that they van be installed and not be seen. They now sell what looks like a big rock- but your dish can be installed on the ground and it just slips over. less messay or obvious than landscaping. It's not expensive either. Perhaps you could approach your HOA with theis option.

In 1996 the FCC adopted its Over-the-Air-Reception Device Rule (OTARD Rule). Check it out and provide a copy to your Architectural committee. The OTARD Rule prohibits restrictions that impair the installation, maintenance or use of satellite dishes that are less than one meter in diameter, TV antennas of any size, wireless cable antennas and customer-end antennas that receive and transmit fixed wireless signals.

Associations may, in advance, adopt location preferences that do not impair the installation, maintenance or use of the antenna. This will assist associations in maintaining a uniform appearance rather than having antennas installed in all kinds of locations. However, if installation in a preferred location will impair the installation, maintenance or use of the antenna, the owner or tenant has the right to install it in another location.

I interpret the ruling to mean that your dish must be allowed in a location which will provide sufficient reception (not impair use);and Association approval may not be needed since the delay can be construed as impairing installation.

I would approach this by trying to reach an acceptable compromise.

Hope this helps,
Roger