I understand the lease can be 25 or more years. Depending on the property location, some pay much higher. I did see something sounding risky about the tower or cell company may be able to take your land deed. Also that there have been times when they dont pay their rent. Does anyone have experience or knowledge of these agreements?

quote:

Originally posted by David Lee:
I did see something sounding risky about the tower or cell company may be able to take your land deed.

How would they do that?
If it’s because they’re using your land and then they somehow gain permanent rights to it, that’s something I’d ask a knowledgeable lawyer about. In Colorado, though, if a land use easement is expressly granted, no adverse possession attaches and the permission can be withdrawn.

Some relatives have had income for decades from cell towers on land they own and although I know very little about the agreements they never had any significant problems with the companies that came to my attention. I once heard that there was some financial issue, but although it took some time to straighten out, it was in the end.

Absent some state-specific statute, it is hard to imagine how a lease of land for a tower could turn into more than a lease.

But, and this should be no surprise, if you have legal questions, you should . . . wait for it . . . ask a lawyer in your state. Any competent RE lawyer can answer your questions easily.

Entering into a 25 year lease is not a minor undertaking. Get some real advice, and not the opinions of your invisible internet friends, who may or may not have stayed in a Holiday Inn last night.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jhe888,

But, but, but; what if I stayed at a Marriott?

It would help to know the going rate for a lease. See a lawyer. Our local real estate attorney answers questions like this all the time. On the surface it seems simple until the heavy equipment arrives at 5:00 am to do maintenance or the local frat boy falls from the top.

I recently started working for my city Louisville Kentucky as a Radio Technician and while working at a two different radio tower sites and the owners will show up asking when they will receive their payment.

It seems like the city forgets to pay them.

Maybe a cellular company will be a better renter.

Keep in mind, We show up at random hours, raplacing stuff. Some days its just to spray weeds.

Dealing with government agencies and expecting to be paid correctly is, as most people know, usually more risky than dealing with private companies.

I thank you all for the input here. I only learned of this a few days ago. The property belongs to a friend. He has 12 1/2 acers with a unfinished metal building and a large pond. A long road frontage. He is talking about selling the property and keeps being contacted from people all over the country. The tower company who contacted him is from California. Also in Ohio. He is never going to use the land as he is 82. It is quite remote and someone keeps breaking in and stealing things. He's fixing to haul a 20 foot truck load down tomorrow as hes got no place to take it. If the tower deal worked out good for him, he would do this.

If it were me I would sell it outright and be done with it.

They can be a nightmare. I have some experience here. Email in profile.

I worked for a municipal utility before retirement. We had several sites That we leased to communication company's. On one 10 acre site we leased small plots for the cell towers. I was the Authorities contact. Towers go up quick,professionally, on time. I don't remember the fee, but I do remember being impressed by the amount. Any upgrades along the way had several meetings,sets of plan upgrade.
As project engineer it was my job to made sure the tower were built to spec. After construction the land was restored to pre construction. Maybe 6-8 weeks a crew would contact me when they needed to do work. If they were on-site, I was with them. On 5 acres on the same site we did a solar farm. Again, we approved the plans, watch the work. We didn't own the solar but received $220,000/year.

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:
They can be a nightmare. I have some experience here. Email in profile.

Thank you. I emailed you.

Going rate here is $2500/month for a cell tower site lease. I know 2 gun clubs locally that have cell towers on their properties. So far it has been a profitable arrangement for both clubs and one tower has been there for over 15 years.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: MaSigchist,

Email replied. As noted above, if you go there, make sure you have a local lawyer review the lease.

If you are talking about a claim of adverse possession by them there is no way that could happen with a recorded lease present. I would think that would be the least of your worries.

If these leases are in fact 25 years, that is a long time. They will reserve rights to access the property for maintenance or repair...at their discretion and whenever they feel like it. Also, that lease would have priority over a future Loan that you might want down the road. A bank won't go for that and I seriously doubt that the Lessee would subordinate their lease to any Deed of Trust. Any future sale of that property would obviously be subject to the lease.

Man, unless you really need that rent money, I would avoid this like the plague.

The other thing to think about is the effect on property value.

Some buyers won't go near a property that is close to power lines or cell towers. In addition to a local attorney, the owner might profit from talking to a local real estate agent.

Are you talking about one of the major MLA's (Tower companies) American tower, SBA, Crown or an actual Cell carrier?

The carriers have shed most of their tower in the past years, selling them to the MLAs.

I have never heard one of the majors missing an established payment. I have heard of property owners being out of sync as to when the check is sent....sometimes they have called about the payment being a couple days late but it gets there. This is due to the MLA doing their payments at the same time each month.

I am not a site acquisition specialist or a lawyer but have been in the Development side for 20+ years.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
Dealing with government agencies and expecting to be paid correctly is, as most people know, usually more risky than dealing with private companies.

I'm going to disagree with that based on my 20+ years of experience.

I did jobs for the Federal Government, none for the State, jobs for Counties, none for city governments, and tons of private sector.

The government jobs always paid quickly and accurately, as did the Counties. The only ones I ever had problems collecting from were private sector and even then, there were only 2 or 3 that were problematic.

Back in the early 90s I was partners in a farm and we leased a small section to Crown for cell tower. Zoning was easy back then. We didn't spend a penny and communication was good about keeping insurance current

A perfect arrangement for us - rent was good for the time and after about 10 years they wanted to buy. First offer was way low. I handled the sale and after about a year of negotiation we got over triple the first offer. Zoning was tougher so grandfathered locations gained value. A positive and profitable experience.

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:
Email replied. As noted above, if you go there, make sure you have a local lawyer review the lease.

Thank you Art for the very informative email. I will share much of this topic with the land owner. It sounds like it could be a good prospect for him if he goes about it right and with legal assistance.