UK Landlord Forum / Life

My tenants approached me to ask permission to have a sky dish installed on the flat they rent from me.  I explained that although I own the flat they rent, the flat owner below would have to give permission too (its a maisonette)  The other flat owner agreed that it could be installed, but only on the back of the property.  On Sunday they went and had it installed on the side of the property (so I'm thinking without permission?) 

They are refusing to remove it until they move out and their tenancy ceases.  Does anyone know if I am within my rights to remove it myself?  I'm assuming they have formed a contact with Sky, so may have to pay for something they are no longer able to use if it removed which could be a reason they are digging their heals in.

Help/advice would be much appreciated!

You can remove something you did not give explicit permission for your Tenants to install, but you should not damage somebody's property. Be this an internal shelf or an external dish. However, the question is really about how much you care? You don't live there, so why does it matter to you? Is the implication that the other flat owner is kicking-off to you?

In cases like that I would be sorely tempted to let the two residents (whether owners or Tenants) sort it out themselves. They are the people living there and they must manage their own lives... and their own disputes.

I think to take action like removal, you would want to be pretty sure you had the agreement clearly documented to be able to show it was then broken. Recipe for a broken relationship between Landlord and Tenant, though, if you ask me.

Thanks for your sensible & level headed reply!  I'm mainly super annoyed because they ignored the agreement we had.....young kids these days, should be spending more time outside rather than glued to the box anyway.  Ho hum.........

I agree.

Its their issue not yours.

Side was probably needed to get a signal.

Are you a bit of a Satalite dish snob.? They do exist so I am told.

Quote from: blossom on December 24, 2014, 07:33:13 AMThanks for your sensible & level headed reply!  I'm mainly super annoyed because they ignored the agreement we had

Well, I guess you can escalate or continue to let it annoy you or you can go the other way and just sit back, and be extremely happy that they are paying you lots of money every month just to live in your property. I'm not saying let Tenants get away with everything... I'm saying that I do not expect that it was that deliberate to go against your agreement and they probably didn't even give it a second thought in their self-centred brains and just did it, as Nike tells them to do. I'd choose the latter path myself but it's not for everyone. I'd certainly forget all about it over the holiday period. Certainly treat it as a learning experience... people who don't have email are very few and far between these days and all it requires to get an agreed course of action written down is a paragraph in an email... this is what we agreed, anything else is unacceptable, if you don't do this then you will suffer the consequences, these are the consequences (removing something, putting it back, repainting it etc.).

Thank you both, will let it go this time as the festivities have mellowed me.

Have to admit though that I am a satellite snob.