Balconies are among the trickiest part of an apartment for owners to manage. With many residents wanting to install satellite dishes or antennas there, it’s wise for owners to have policies about how to do it right.
Independent rental owner (IRO) Greg Guerrero, based in Tulsa, Okla., says the Satellite Dish & Stick Antenna Addendum he uses allows residents to install individual dishes of one meter in diameter or an antenna on a roof, balcony railing, or patio that is totally within the leased premises.
No part of the dish or antenna may extend beyond (vertically or horizontally) the balcony railing or patio line. No dish or antenna may be installed on any common areas, including but not limited to outside walls, outside windowsills, roofs, overhangs, common area stairwells, parking lots, fences or any other common areas, except as described in the Addendum.
In writing his company’s addendum, he states that the landlord may construct and provide a frame on which the dish will be installed (provided the dish has the proper mounting bracket or pedestal to attach to this frame), but the landlord need not do so. When the landlord does provide this frame, it must be used by the tenant’s installer. If the installer does not install the dish or antenna in accordance with the landlord’s instructions, the renter will have five days after written notice to correct the improper installation, along with correction of any damages that may have been caused, or provide payment for correction of any damages.
Guerrero says his company’s concern is that the dish be placed at a designated location in a clean and neat manner and that there are never any penetrations made into the roof or walls without specific written permission.
Rather than have a random and ugly scattering of dishes on his properties, he says he usually provides a simple frame that allows more than one dish to be grouped in locations that he chooses. These frames are always on the roof. In the case of flat roofs that contain condensing units, he simply places a 4-inch-by-4-inch-by-8-foot beam under a condenser and leaves four to five feet sticking out from under the condenser, providing room for three to four satellites to be neatly mounted on it. The weight of the condenser secures the beam. Another option is for installers to provide metal frames that can be secured by the weight of a couple of cinderblocks.
In the case of pitched or gabled roofs, Guerrero suggests using a 2-inch-by-12-inch-by-8-foot beam of treated lumber with a treated 2-by-6 screwed into it at a right angle and placed next to a firewall. This application requires a vertical wall (such as a firewall or parapet wall) to secure the board or frame, in order to avoid a roof penetration. The 2-by-6 will be secured to the firewall with concrete anchors or sheet metal screws, depending on the wall. Satellites can then be mounted in a row on the 2-by-12. The lumber is painted beforehand to match or blend in with the color of the shingles on the roof. –NAA Community Site, community.naahq.org