If your cell tower lease is owned or managed by a cell tower company, most likely you have been approached about extending your cell tower lease. While the offer of extending your cell tower lease may sound appealing, you must consider all the proposed terms in the lease extension to determine the full impact to your bottom line. We recently saw one example of of a cell tower lease extension where, in exchange for a $3,500.00 signing bonus now, the property owner lost an opportunity to collect several thousand dollars a month starting in several years.
Some cell tower companies use lease extensions as an opportunity to add additional rights to their existing cell tower lease. In lease extensions you will see items such as a Right of First Refusal or options to expand lease area. You may also see the removal of key terms contained in your cell tower lease such as the removal of provisions requiring your consent to the addition of new subtenants, or the removal of your right to approve of future construction construction. We have also seen lease extensions used as a way to correct actions that may have been performed by tenants (such as, modifications made without the owner's permission) that were not noticed by the property owner.
Most property owners are not familiar enough with the cell tower industry to know when they may be making a decision that will cost them tens, or hundreds of thousands of dollars. Contact us today with any questions you may have regarding a lease extension on your cell tower or antenna site lease.