Higher rents on the horizon from telecoms masts – good news for landowners

It used to be the case that farmers and landowners could earn between £5,000 and £7,000 per year from renting out some of their land to telecoms companies looking to erect a mast on their site. Now, it’s typical for renewal offers to be just £1,000-£1,500, Katie explained.

This is because of rules imposed by the Electronic Communications Code which changed how the land is valued. While this was intended to encourage telecoms companies to expand or upgrade their networks, it puts farmers in a far weaker position when it comes to negotiating rent.

In addition to this, The Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022 introduced other changes in favour of the tenant. This includes a right to share apparatus with other network operators and rights to upgrade and share apparatus underground. It also gives tenants the power to fly lines from apparatus, including poles, and related rights to upgrade or share such apparatus. 

All-round, these changes can seem like an unfair deal for landowners, leaving them with less money and less control over the masts on their property. After all, farmers cannot refuse to have a telecoms mast on their land because operators also have compulsory access rights.

Vache Farm decision

However, a recent case known as the “Vache Farm decision” has provided fresh hope to landowners as it delivered new guidance on the rental values and rent review provisions of telecommunications leases. 

In the Vache Farm decision, the tribunal decided - using comparable transactions for rents for unexceptional rural sites - that the suitable annual rent for a rural mast site is £1,750 per annum. It also ruled that figures should be increased in line with inflation. This was a departure from the tribunal’s previous rulings which determined that a rent of £750/annum for this type of site was acceptable.

Although the increase isn’t a huge sum, it is a step in the right direction, and it gives landlords greater negotiation power upon lease renewal. After all, sacrificing land and allowing a mast to be built upon it should benefit both landowners and network operators if telecoms networks are to be expanded more widely or upgraded.