Can you demand from your landlord that he permit you to install parabolic antennas on your balcony even though you have cable TV at home and so follow your demand to receive programs in your native tongue?

No, you cannot. A Turk installed two parabolic antennas on his balcony. The landlord disagreed and demanded they be removed. The tenant refused. So after being vainly sued in all instances in civil courts, this person complained to the Federal Constitutional Court that his constitutional right of information (Art. 5 GG) would be infringed if he were not permitted to install the antennas.

The BVerfG (judgment of Janu­ary 24, 2005, re 1 BvR 1953/00) refused to accept the case because it considered that the claimed infringement was evidently not the case. The right of information is not granted without limits. Such limits would be the proprietor’s interest of the property’s integrity (art. 14 GG). In cases where two constitutional rights clash, the interests of both rights will be weighed. Since the tenant has the possibility to receive Turkish programs on cable TV for a reasonable price, his interest does not outweigh the owner’s interests. The renter must cope with the fact that he is stuck with either indoor antennas or cable TV.

Related Articles:

• Can Satellite Receiver for all Replace Parabolic Antenna

• Installing Parabolic Antennas on the Balcony of Rented Apartments

Published on the old CMS: 2007/2/11
Read on the old CMS till November 2008: 239 reads