Answer
Jun 05, 2015 - 12:55 PM
The answer to this question resides in your lease. In most cases, the tower owner is allowed to bring in utilities to service the tower. So whether this is power, fiber, or telephone service, the tower owner is within its rights to run fiber to the tower and will not pay additional compensation for doing so.
Where this gets tricky is when the cell tower owner or one of the sub-tenants on the tower wants to run fiber across the property but not where you previously granted a utility or access easement. In this case, you may be able to withhold your approval and ask for additional compensation.
If you incorrectly withhold your approval, the tower owner can and will sue to enforce their rights. Or more than likely they will agree to a small nuisance payment to get you to agree. The problem is that no tower owner will come right out and tell you that they can't do what they want to do- so you really can't take their word for it.
If you are contacted to run fiber across your property, first check the utility paragraph in the lease to see whether they can add further utilities. If they can, then check to see whether the fiber is being routed in an existing easement. If the answer to both questions is no, then contact us for further help.
Where this gets tricky is when the cell tower owner or one of the sub-tenants on the tower wants to run fiber across the property but not where you previously granted a utility or access easement. In this case, you may be able to withhold your approval and ask for additional compensation.
If you incorrectly withhold your approval, the tower owner can and will sue to enforce their rights. Or more than likely they will agree to a small nuisance payment to get you to agree. The problem is that no tower owner will come right out and tell you that they can't do what they want to do- so you really can't take their word for it.
If you are contacted to run fiber across your property, first check the utility paragraph in the lease to see whether they can add further utilities. If they can, then check to see whether the fiber is being routed in an existing easement. If the answer to both questions is no, then contact us for further help.
Add New Comment