Landowners should not be complacent with telecoms mast upgrades

There was between 10 and 5 years ago a drive by mobile ’phone companies to expand the coverage of their networks. This was in response to government directives to give broader coverage as well as the simple commercial desire to allow more calls. This led to a lot of land owners being approached to have equipment placed on their land. Rents were increasing and very attractive to the agricultural sector in particular.

Mobile phone companies have in recent times largely stopped looking for new sites as they face greater competition between themselves and as the recession hits us all. What they are doing is consolidating their relations with each other and they are increasingly sharing each others’ capacities to cut costs.

They are however looking to put in enhanced equipment to service mobile broadband use, especially where they have decided to share sites to cut costs.

What this means for the landowner is that instead of a new site with disturbance payment and a solid rent, there is just a visit from a technical crew to add to or adjust equipment that is already in place.

The landowner should not however be complacent.

The original agreement will usually contain a number of limitations on the equipment that can be installed at any one time.

The limitations can affect the following matters:

1. The height of the mast

2. The maximum number of the antennae

3. The maximum number and the size of the microwave dishes

4. The particular mobile ’phone company using the equipment

If the operator has exceeded the limits in the original agreement it should renegotiate and pay a further fee or increase the rent.

The operator itself will probably have the original lease or agreement in storage and the technical department making any upgrade may not itself have all the details of what was originally agreed. They may go in and make changes that are not authorised in all good faith.

The consequence of this is that it is down to you the landowner to inspect, check and police the operation here.

It is a simple and cheap exercise to get your solicitor or even better a solicitor specialising in this area to set out the details. He or she would at the same time cheque that rent reviews have been properly carried out and that there are no other moneys owing to you. You would be surprised how many agreements are still at the original rent a decade after the original agreement was made.

Do this simple housekeeping exercise now and you could find a surprising bonus at no cost!

Mark McDonald

Temple Law Solicitors

Mark McDonald has recently become a consultant with Temple Law solicitors. He has dealt with Telecommunication site issues over many years for both operators and landowners.