What Is a Phone Mast Lease? A Landlord’s Guide

A Phone Mast Lease is a legal contract that grants exclusive possession over land or property for a period of time (fixed or periodic) in return for consideration, usually in the form of rent. It is important to note that not all Phone Mast agreements are leases — some are structured as licences or wayleave agreements, which do not grant exclusive possession. The distinction matters because the rights and protections available to both landlord and operator differ significantly depending on the type of agreement in place.

Phone Mast Lease vs. Commercial Lease: Key Differences

A Phone Mast lease in essence is very similar to a normal commercial lease you would expect to see for a shop, retail, or industrial premises. However, the exception to a Phone Mast lease is that the tenant or operators can benefit from ‘code powers’ from the 1984 Telecommunications Act as amended by the 2003 Communications Act and the 2017 Digital Economy Act.

Clauses you would expect to find in a Phone Mast lease

The standard clauses and provisions you would expect to find in a Phone Mast lease are as follows:

Term****Definition***‘Date’The date the lease started‘Lessor and Lessee’Lessor = Landlord; Lessee = Tenant‘Premises’This is the address and location of the exclusive possession‘Term’This is the period of time the lease starts and ends‘Rent’This is the amount of money the tenant pays the landlord, normally on an annual basis‘Commencement Date’This is the date the lease starts from, this can differ from the lease start date‘Permitted User’Normally this is restricted to telecommunications‘The Rights’This will govern the equipment the operator is allowed to install on site. To include, maintaining and upgrading‘Alienation/Site Sharing’This refers to the rights the operator has to let to third parties and share equipment. This has changed under the 2017 law‘Assignment’This governs the right to assign the benefits of the lease to a third party. This has changed under the 2017 Law‘Group Companies’This would detail the rights the tenant has to allow group companies to benefit from the lease‘Rent Review’This would set out the rent review methodology and provisions, normally you would expect to see the rent review to the higher of the Market Value or Retail Price Index‘Rent Review Date’This outlines the period of the rent reviews, typically the frequency would be every 3-5 years‘Tenant Break Clause’This outlines the date and the process for the tenant to end the lease‘Landlord Break Clause’This outlines the date and process for the Landlord to end the lease‘Lift and Shift’This would allow the Landlord or tenant to remove and relocate the equipment for essential repairs‘Insurance and Indemnity’This would outline the process if there was a claim’Equipment Rights’This would outline the equipment the tenant is allowed to install on site.‘Switch Off’This would detail the procedure for switching off the equipment in an emergency or whilst carrying out repairs‘Access’This would detail the access route to the site and the access procedures’Emergency Access’This would explain the procedures to be followed to access the site in an emergency‘Yield Up Clause’This explains the procedure the tenant would follow when the lease has ended, and they are removing equipment from the site‘Way Leaves and Easements’***This would detail the landlord’s responsibility for entering with third parties to install communication links to the site.

Heads of terms

These clauses above are normally agreed upon by the tenant and landlord surveyors within the Heads of Terms.

Heads of Terms are the main points of the lease (bones of the lease) that are negotiated by landlord and tenant surveyors, ideally before the solicitors are instructed. Making sure good Heads of Terms are agreed in principle prior to instructing solicitors can save both parties time and money in expensive legal fees.

Heads of Terms should be negotiated by a specialist telecoms surveyor to ensure the client has the best wording and sufficient protection within their lease.

Up until 28 December 2017, Phone Mast Leases were given security of tenure under Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. This changed when the new Electronic Communications Code (set out in Schedule 1 to the Digital Economy Act 2017) came into force. Leases granted after this date are no longer protected by the 1954 Act; instead, the Code gives operators their own form of security of tenure with no option for the landlord to contract out.

Under the new Code, rent is assessed on a “no scheme” basis — meaning the site is valued as if there were no existing telecoms use. This fundamental change in valuation methodology has significantly impacted the rents landlords can achieve.

Further changes were introduced by the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022 (PSTI Act), which amended the Code to streamline the renewal process, introduce an automatic right for operators to obtain new agreements on expired sites, and make additional changes to the valuation framework. Landlords with existing or expired leases should seek specialist advice to understand how these changes affect their position.

Important points to consider

Once you have completed a lease, it will be hard to change the terms if they are not in your favour

Landlords often make the mistake of thinking if the lease is silent on a specific matter, the operator or the tenant is not allowed to do it. This is wrong, if you want to restrict an operator or tenant this needs to be clearly written into the lease.

Contact us for help with your lease

Please contact the Phone Mast Advice Company for the best Heads of Terms and Lease Clauses in the marketplace.

Related Services

If you need expert advice on the topics discussed in this article, our specialist surveyors can help:

• Phone Mast Rent Reviews

• Get a Free Rent Estimate

• Phone Mast Sales

• Get a Free Lease Check

Call us on 01691 791543 or contact us online for a free consultation.