Recently, a lawsuit investigation has been launched into alleged violations of cell tower lease agreements.  Property owners with cell phone towers may be owed money by wireless phone carrier tenants.

Cell phone tower operators recently consolidated, which resulted in the transfer of cell tower lease agreements to wireless phone companies like Verizon and cell phone tower operators.

This investigation mainly applies to property owners with a cell phone tower on their land and signed cell tower lease agreements with wireless carriers or cell tower companies, which may have violated their agreements when the leases were transferred.

Wireless carriers like Verizon and AT&T had combined forces with big players in the cell phone tower industry like Tillman Infrastructure and American Tower, which caused many cell tower lease agreements to be transferred.

Verizon and AT&T are the biggest cell phone providers in the United States, and they utilize the large number of cell phone towers to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of customers. These cellphone towers are often located on private property under a lease from the property owner.

This is where the cell tower lease agreements come into play. These agreements ensure that the companies can use the land and that property owners are compensated for the inconvenience. The average cell phone tower annual lease rate is $45,000.

Overview of Cell Tower Lease Agreement Investigation

A lawsuit investigation has been launched to help determine if cell phone carriers and cell phone tower companies owe property owners money. A property owner can potentially pursue financial damages for lease agreement violations and hold the cell tower company or cell phone company liable for past and future rent payments.

Cell tower lease agreements often include additional provisions requiring the cell phone company or cell tower company to make supplemental payments to the property owner. A recent review of cell tower lease agreements indicated tenants in these contracts frequently breach provisions and may owe property owners hundreds of thousands of dollars.

According to Cell Tower Lease Rates, property owners should be aware of several facts regarding cell tower lease agreements and tower lease rates:

• Wireless phone companies pay many of their leasing agents performance bonuses, for bringing in low rate leases with terms favorable to the company.
• A mere 1% yearly increase on cell phone tower lease agreements, can equate to $170,000 over a 25 year lifetime of the normal lease agreement.
• If the property owner’s lawyers do not know which questions to ask during cell phone tower lease agreement negotiations, a property owner could lose over half a million dollars in lost revenue over a 30 year time period.
• The cell phone carrier may pay their leasing agents extra financial incentives to get property owners to agree to favorable rates.

Cellphone companies and cell tower companies will often tell property owners their lease offers are based on square footage, but most professionals argue against this method of valuation because cell phone tower lease agreements are not traditional real estate leases.

For these reasons, property owners are encouraged to thoroughly research and analyze their cell tower lease agreements and consult professional help if needed.