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Comment by MichaelBurge | Hacker News Reader

I don't know about internet, but I've declined to allow them to install satellite dishes. Their technicians will drill holes through your roof with reckless abandon, and the tenant won't care because they'll likely be moved out by the time the water damage really sets in from their improperly filled hole. Not to mention you can't have a one-time installation: They want to reinstall a new one every time so they can charge the tenant an installation fee.

Even if they offer the installation for free, I want their barely-trained technicians to drill holes in my property as much as a fisherman wants them to drill holes in his boat.

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Just letting you know, the FCC prohibits landlords from disallowing satellite dishes and broadcast antennas from being installed in areas controlled by the tenant. You can disallow them in common areas (like the roof, which you mentioned), sure, but the FCC will come down on you hard if they get wind of you trying to interfere with them installing a satellite dish on their balcony.

For reference on the above: https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/installing-consumer-own...

What about the immediate exterior of their floor / unit?

Exterior walls are common areas owned by the landlord:

"OTARD rules do not apply to common areas that are owned by a landlord, a community association or jointly by condominium owners. These common areas may include the roof or exterior walls of a multiple dwelling unit."

I'm in Canada and we've declined people from attaching anything to their balcony's railing. If they want to put a dish on the balcony, it has to be on a stand. My upstairs neighbour has one like this.

We've done this rule about attaching things to the building/railing because the building is actually two buildings one is a heritage building so nothing is allowed to be attached without prior approval of the heritage committee of the city. Since that building can't do it, we made the decision to do it for the new building.

We had to get permission to use a new type of metal shingle that looks like a traditional shingle but it has a 50 year warranty. Since that roof can only be serviced by one company in town (it has a steep roof like a church so only that company is actually able to do it) we wanted it done once and not have to worry about it. Even the method we used to clean the outside of the building had to be approved.

A tech who will only install on a roof is just lazy. There are always other installation options, especially when the building has a flat membrane roof.

Apparently you haven't seen this yet, but if you got a lucrative offer from an ISP to go exclusive, would you take it?

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