Clients will be aware of the proliferation of mobile phone masts needed to support the increasing number of mobile phones being used throughout the country. It has traditionally been the policy of mobile phone operators to negotiate terms with landowners and tenants for the construction of masts on their land with the landowner being paid an annual fee of typically between £5,000 and £10,000 per annum. However, most people do not realise that the Telecommunications Act 1984 and the Telecommunications Code provide mobile phone operators with wide ranging powers enabling compulsory acquisition of sites and protection of apparatus from removal once an Agreement is in place. These provisions are completely separate from the security of tenure provisions in the Landlord & Tenant Act 1954. Whilst it is possible, by agreement, to exclude the protection of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1954, there is no such provision in respect of the powers under the 1984 Act and the Code. The Code confers on operators the rights to:-

• execute works on land or buildings for the installation, maintenance, adjustment, repair or alteration of telecommunications apparatus;
• keep apparatus installed on, under or over land or buildings until a Court orders the removal of the apparatus; and
• enter land or buildings to inspect apparatus installed for the purposes of a telecommunications system.

The Code requires an operator to obtain agreement from the landowner for the installation of apparatus, but if that agreement is not forthcoming, then the operator can apply to Court to force that agreement and can seek an Order from the Court conferring the necessary rights on the operator against the wishes of the landowner. It will be seen that considerable problems could be experienced by allowing an operator to install a mast on your land, not least because it might prove impossible to terminate that arrangement – the final say being with the Courts. This is of course particularly relevant if there is any possibility that the land in question could, at some time in the future, be suitable for development. Clients will see that there are a number of potential problems and pitfalls in dealing with telecommunications operators and Adams & Remers will be happy to advise anyone who is approached by a telecommunications operator, or indeed who has already entered into an agreement with one, as to how best to manage the situation and protect landowners’ interests as far as is possible.