For those landlords with T-Mobile or H3G (known as ’3’) telecom installations, many have now received letters requesting their consent to either assign the existing agreement into joint names or proposing to share the site with the other operator with no payaway. It has become quite clear that T-Mobile and 3’s stance of paying no additional rent has remained the same since day one.
Fisher German investigates the options for landlords.
Over the past four to five months, these operators have begun to offer alternative benefits as a route to obtaining the landlord’s consent. To date this is in the form of one-off incentive payments, removal of break clauses, a prohibition on future assignments and site shares and an undertaking to cover a landlord’s solicitors and agents fees, to name but a few.
But what are the alternatives if a landlord is unhappy with what is being offered?
T-Mobile and 3 have highlighted that they have now acquired over 70% of their required sites across the UK and their numbers are increasing on a daily basis. They have also commenced their drive to find alternative sites where landlords have failed to enter into negotiations with operators. Inevitably this will mean, in some cases, alternative sites being pursued, or a general ’wake-up’ call for landlords to agree terms for fear of losing the current income.
There will of course be some sites where alternatives cannot be found by the operator and they will be forced to pursue the said landlord to agree terms. Unless a landlord knows the area extremely well and can identify all masts in the area, proceeding down this route alone may well be risky.
In addition to this Fisher German have already started to see landlords receiving initial letters from T-Mobile and 3 highlighting that their site is on the decommission list pending final approval. These two operators then market the proposed decommissioned sites to other telecom operators.
With T-Mobile and 3’s drive to increase their radio coverage across the UK, beyond that presently provided by any other operator, this will surely see, in the long term, a marked increase in new site requirements in order to keep up, something which has not been seen for a number of years.
This can be a complex area but Fisher German’s purpose is to secure the best deal for the landlord at often no cost as fees can be picked up by the operators. If in doubt, or for further information, please contact Mark Newton, Chris Hicks or Eve Watson on 01858 410200
