Can the building charge for a communal dish?

bittihuduga

hi
i moved into a city centre apartment recently
this building has communal dish installed
but the building maintenance department charge 5 euros per month for this dish service.
is it right to charge the fee?
i cannot install my own dish here.
any suggestions?

Sponge Bob

No, should be in the management fee.

leeroybrown

This might be an "it depends" situation. What likely happened is that due to the prohibition of individual dishes in the block (most blocks have one) at some point the residents agreed to the installation of a large communal dish with a maintenance fee split between all residents. In a lot of blocks you find a group of residents that get support for this. I'd agree that it should be in the management fee but it may just have been simpler (lazier) to not include it because it likely involved having it dealt with at an AGM/EGM rather than just levied.

Sponge Bob

That would be OK in year one Leeroy but once it is installed there is no annual running cost much less €5 a month which is taking the piss.

dudara

What is written in the management contract for the building? There is no set answer here - it will all depend on the management structure for that building.

Thread moved to Accomodation & Property

dudara

djimi

Ill put it this way; Sky dont charge to have the dish installed, and noone in the building pays for the dish to be there unless they have a Sky account, so Im not at all sure where the jusfitication would be to charge €5 a month for it.

Who does the money go to? And what do you get for that money? Are they even offering a free to air solution to every apartment via the dish? Its still wouldnt justfiy the cost (considering its a free service) but I could at least understand where the charge is coming from.

bittihuduga

with 5euros we can get the FTA provided you have a FTA box.
sad thing is, the consumer has to pay 5 euros to management and sky subscription too (if he has subscription)

Paulw

They might have bought the dish, and cabling.

It does sound a bit rich, but then again, they give you the option.

It's really between you and the management company.

athtrasna

Is there a chance that some structural work had to be done to the block to enable the cabling to be fitted and run to each apartment? Rather than levy each unit with the cost up front they are collecting it in installments??