There are rules for installing satellite dishes

Q: My question concerns the placement of satellite dishes within our condominium community, where I serve on the buildings committee. What are the regulations? Do they have to be on stands? Can we tell owners they can’t attach them to the roofs or sides of buildings? I’ve looked at the Nevada Revised Statutes 116 but haven’t been able to find answers to these questions.

A: NRS 116 does not address satellite dishes; they fall under the Federal Communication Commission’s jurisdiction. In a condominium community, a homeowner cannot install a satellite dish on any common area, including a roof, hallway, walkway, chimney or exterior walls. You may place your satellite dish on your patio, terrace or deck that only you can use. We call this a community’s “exclusive use” areas or “limited common elements.” You may install an antenna wholly within a balcony, deck, patio or another area where you have exclusive use.

FCC regulations made it clear that dishes may be installed on balconies or patios even if the association’s declaration does not define the balconies or patios as limited common elements. Drilling through an exterior wall to run a cable from the patio into the unit is generally not within the rule’s protection because the exterior wall is generally considered a common element.

To install a satellite dish exceeding 39 inches in diameter or put a dish on common area property, you’d need the association’s approval.

An association can impose reasonable painting requirements as long as they don’t impair reception. An association may mandate the location of antennas and dishes provided the antenna and satellite dish can receive acceptable quality signals for that location. A tenant who has an owner’s permission to install an antenna has the same rights as the owner to install a dish or antenna.

Federal regulations allow an association to enforce restrictions but associations are not allowed to have unreasonable restrictions. For example, the association can require homeowners to complete an architectural request to install a satellite dish but the federal regulations require that there are no unreasonable delays in processing the approval of the satellite dish. For more information, you can search FCC regulations on satellite dishes.

Q: What is the disposition of money left over in the homeowners association operating account at the end of the year?

A: NRS 116.3114, which pertains to surplus funds, states that any association funds remaining after the payment of or provision for common expenses and any prepayment of reserves must be paid to homeowners or credited to them to reduce their future assessments for common expenses.

In my opinion, this is a poor definition of what constitutes surplus funds. First, the law does not consider the delinquency accounts or the potential writeoffs of delinquent accounts or even the number of bankruptcies or foreclosures, which affect the actual cash balance. Second, the law does not consider a contingency account for unexpected expenses that could occur in the coming year.

Many certified public accountants recommend nonprofit organizations, such as homeowner associations, have three to six months of regular assessments placed into a contingency account. These contingency funds could, for example, be used to pay unanticipated insurance deductibles from association’s directors and officers’ insurance policies.

Many associations would have found contingency funds extremely beneficial during the Great Recession. This extra money could have been used for operating expenses when associations had a dramatic drop in homeowner delinquencies and foreclosures.

As the law stands, association boards should consult their accountants to determine the how much association money should be refunded to homeowners.