Disputes are unfortunately common in long-term Infrastructure leases. These disputes often are clerical errors and issues neither party anticipated in the lease.
Collection Services.
Typically the collection of monthly or annual rents is a simple process between the landlord and tenant. However, it is often that landlords stop receiving rent from their lease for a variety of reasons. Bringing in attorneys as representatives to settle disputes in Infrastructure Lease matters can significantly add unnecessary costs and delays in obtaining a mutual settlement.
SiteBid Infrastructure can assist in handling simple disputes between property owners and tenants by assisting the property owner with representation for the collection of late or unpaid rent, Lease Negotiations, and other related management issues.
Consulting Services
Let our experienced infrastructure consultants assist with lease negotiation and asset optimization.
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New Owner Disputes
If you just purchased or inherited a property with a cell tower antenna, you may be wondering how to get the antenna off OR asking why you’re not receiving rent. This is often for 2 reasons:
A prior owner sold or retained the lease/easement.
At some point, a prior property owner may have already sold the lease or easement to a tower company. They may have also excluded the antenna lease from a prior sale by creating a master lease or retaining the easement rights. If your title report doesn’t show the recording of an easement and memorandum of lease/easement, you may be entitled to rent for the lease. We can assist in obtaining a copy of the legal documents, including the lease agreements, to determine what rights were retained and if any future rights may be reverted to the property owner.
A change of ownership request was not filed.
It could be that no information was provided to the Infrastructure tenant on where to re-direct lease payments. The funds could be still going to the prior owner or funds could stop being made until new information is provided. Infrastructure tenants don’t proactively reach out for ownership changes and often just stop making payments in these situations since it’s the responsibility of the landlord to provide notice.
Lease Rent Reduction Disputes
You may have received rent reduction notices from companies hired by Infrastructure Tenants. They are hired to call property owners and re-negotiate lower rents for the tenant to remain on these properties. SiteBid Infrastructure can assist with rent reduction negotiation to retain or improve your current lease terms.
In some cases, if you do have excessively high rents, it does make sense for Infrastructure tenants to move to another property if their rent is not reduced. However, in many cases, we find that the rent is actually not high enough. The only way to find where your lease stands is to determine how essential to the Infrastructure tenant by identifying the cell traffic requirement of the area, capacity of the current location, availability of surrounding cell sites, zoning code, and replacement cost. We can analyze your current location and assist with a fair and mutually beneficial long-term agreement.
End of Lease Terms
If your lease agreement is coming to an end, the tenant will likely contact you in advance to re-negotiate a rent at similar or lower terms. However, they often add additional restrictive language in their new leases. Don’t accept a new lease or amendment to your lease until it is reviewed by a consultant who’s on your side!
If a lease is not negotiated, you may be in hold-over and the tenant or Infrastructure company may stop paying rent. This is a common problem because your lease has not been re-activated in their system with new terms OR you’ve gone to a revenue share that they’d prefer not to pay but instead negotiate a lower rent.
Early Lease Termination and Decommissioning
Almost all Infrastructure leases have early termination clauses (“escape clause”) that allow the tenant to cancel their leases with a 30-90 day notice. If you’ve received notice that your Infrastructure lease is going to be terminated early and the tower will be decommissioned, we can assist in making sure you’re provided with fair and accurate compensation.
Equipment Alteration or Redevelopment
When a tenant upgrades their equipment, they may be required to pay additional rent depending on their current lease terms. We can review your lease and site plan to determine if additional compensation should be due. Alternatively, a Property Owner may want to improve or redevelop the property. We can ensure expectations and terms are met to provide a mutually beneficial outcome.