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Neighbors installed satellite dish on our lawn

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Haelen

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? West Virginia

Hi ... We came home to our townhouse 2 weeks ago and found that our neighbors had installed a satellite dish on our front lawn. We have called DirecTV to have them remove it but they will only do so with permission from the subscriber. We have left two notes and our HOA has sent a letter to this neighbor but there has been no response. They refuse to answer the door even.

We own our townhouse. Don't we have the right to remove the dish if we want to? Has anyone else dealt with something like this?

Our HOA does "not want to get involved" and just suggests calling Directv again. Can we get in trouble for removing this dish (which is in clear violation of the development's rules anyway?) Thank you.
 


ENASNI

Senior Member
Haelen said:
What is the name of your state? West Virginia

Hi ... We came home to our townhouse 2 weeks ago and found that our neighbors had installed a satellite dish on our front lawn. We have called DirecTV to have them remove it but they will only do so with permission from the subscriber. We have left two notes and our HOA has sent a letter to this neighbor but there has been no response. They refuse to answer the door even.

We own our townhouse. Don't we have the right to remove the dish if we want to? Has anyone else dealt with something like this?

Our HOA does "not want to get involved" and just suggests calling Directv again. Can we get in trouble for removing this dish (which is in clear violation of the development's rules anyway?) Thank you.

Just being a devil's advocate here. Are you sure they are home? Any who... Send them a letter CRRR letting them know (as nice as you can, you do have to live next to them) that they need to remove the dish, or be held civilly or even criminally liable for trespassing onto your property.
Get out the HOA's rules as well and reiterate that you have spoken to them and they are aware of the dish and that rules were broken on your street. ( The neighbors don't need to know that the HOA are being ostriches.)
Give them a set amount of time to remove it, or let them know that you as novices will be doing the deed and you hope you "do it correctly".

In the meantime, I would be very careful about touching the thing, because they may counter with ... "HEY, you broke my dish!!!” If you have a paper-trail that you gave them a fair amount of time and fore-warning, it would look better if things come down wrong.

Good luck. ( and stay tuned for other's advice if they are so inclined.)
 

divgradcurl

Senior Member
ENASNI's advice is sound. ENASNI's advice is probably the right thing to do, especially if you want to maintain any type of peace with your neighbors.

However, if you KNOW for a FACT that the dish is SOLELY on YOUR prpoerty, and there is NO chance that it is on property that may not be yours, or is subject to an easement or anything, then you really don't need to wait for anything to happen -- just get the damn thing off your property.

Better yet, you could tell DirecTV that you are going to sue them for trespass if they don't remove THEIR property from your lawn (it might not be their property, but usually subscribers just rent the stuff).
 

snshea

Member
If your neighbors are avoiding you, they are abviously aware that they've crossed the line & don't care. It's nice to get along with neighbors but they're in violation of your rights to the property. I'd remove it & set it out for trash pick up, or, if you don't want to touch it, you could incorporate it into your landscaping. Maybe you could build one of those fake wishing wells around it with a nice big roof that would block the signal. I'm sure they'd move it then.
 

Haelen

Junior Member
Thanks for all the replies. Enjoyable to say the least. HOA just called and said they want to send another letter and don't want us to touch it. I am just getting sick of seeing it right in the center of my front yard!
 

ENASNI

Senior Member
Haelen said:
Thanks for all the replies. Enjoyable to say the least. HOA just called and said they want to send another letter and don't want us to touch it. I am just getting sick of seeing it right in the center of my front yard!

I don't blame you, those things are [URL="http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.clearsat.com/images/ics2c1.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.clearsat.com/product.htm&h=199&w=252&sz=19&tbnid=qaMnIw-YyStLMM:&tbnh=83&tbnw=106&hl=en&start=17&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddirect%2Btv%2Bsatellite%2Bdish%2B%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG"]Butt ugly[/URL], .
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
I say just go out every evening after dark and move it a few degrees to one side or the other. You haven't "damaged" their property, and it might annoy them enough to move it to a location with better reception ;)
 

rdrector

Member
I'd pull it out and place it on their lawn. They don't like it so what, not like they care about how you feel, so no point in being friendly any longer. What are they going to do about it in all honesty? Call the police saying they left their property on your lawn and you returned it to them? Sue you in small claims court, ok, but it won't get them anywhere, and I dought they'll even waste their time. My only suggestion is to not intentionally damage it when putting it on their property.
;) Or, like myself, I would just make it dissappear in the middle of the night very stealthy like and play dumb as to not knowing what happened. Again it's up to them to show burden of proof, and who cares, it's not like they respect you anyhow.
 

ENASNI

Senior Member
it's
not like they respect you anyhow
That is what I am worried about. If they can be so crass as to put the dang thing in the middle of their neighbor's yard, they have no respect.

This can get down and dirty... and totally is dial up.

sooooo let us try to keep it nice, though I did like the bird-bath idea. I do like the little birdies. :p
 

nextwife

Senior Member
Haelen said:
Hi ... We came home to our townhouse 2 weeks ago and found that our neighbors had installed a satellite dish on our front lawn. We have called DirecTV to have them remove it but they will only do so with permission from the subscriber.
THat is a totally unacceptable response from Direct TV. They should seek the PROPERTY owner's permission before installation. No subscriber should be able to have a dish installed on another property owner's land WITHOUUT their permission.

Call Direct TV BACK and speak to a superviser. Explain that Direct TV installed equipement on YOUR property without your permission and you want it removed NOW. Their failure to properly investigate and to recieve the authorization of the property owner before installing is THIER problem. The subscriber had NO PERMISSION to allow such installation on YOUR property. I doubt whomever you spoke with understood that they are trespassing on a NON-subscriber's property. They can't simply throw up a dish wherever they want and claim that only a subscriber can ask it removed, if the subscriber never had authorization to place it there to begin with!
 

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