Installing Parabolic Antennas on the Balcony of Rented Apartments

Foreigners and parabolic antennas have kept the BGH busy. This time the court had to again decide on whether a tenant may install a parabolic antenna on his balcony or not – even though the landlord supplied cable TV. This happened on May 16, 2007 (re VIII ZR 207/04). The touchy points were that the renter had cable TV and the antenna was not connected to a wall.

The defending tenants had set up a parabolic antenna without drilling holes into the wall by placing it on a firm stand on the floor of the balcony. The suing landlord demanded that the antenna be removed because this use was exceeding the purpose of the contract. Following the stipulations in the contract, it was not allowed to fix or install antennas outside the apartment.

The Federal Supreme Court acknowledged its previous ruling case law that having cable TV provided usually gives reasonable grounds for forbidding parabolic antennas. The court’s precedents say that the tenant has a generally privileged interest, pursuant to art. 5 I GG, to receive additional satellite programs and the proprietor must permit such an antenna whenever the building is neither physically nor appreciably aesthetically effected. The renter can expect the permission to install a further antenna when no or only a negligible optical nuisance exists, for example because the antenna is standing on the floor of a balcony and nobody can see what is on the balcony.

Related Articles:

• Foreign Tennant May Not Always Install Parabolic Antennas

• Can Satellite Receiver for all Replace Parabolic Antenna

Published on the old CMS: 2007/6/25
Read on the old CMS till November 2008: 296 reads