New mobile 4G and 5G masts are required in order to improve network coverage across England. 5G promises superfast download speeds for smartphones and changes to the way we live, paving the way for everything from self-driving cars to wearable health devices providing round-the-clock monitoring.

The benefits are to be welcomed but some people see another side to the argument and are hesitant about the advantages due to health concerns and aesthetic reasons. Boys & Maughan can assist in resisting the installation of telephone masts on your land or building and generally advising around the law, including advice on any compensation deals you may be offered by phone companies and ending agreements to have masts on your land. Matt Champ, Partner and Litigator at our Margate office, is more than familiar with this area of law.

The odds are, unfortunately, stacked against those who are not properly advised. If an agreement between an operator and a landowner in respect of a mast or masts cannot be reached, the operator can serve a notice and then, if a response isn’t received within the right period, apply on an interim or permanent basis to a court or Tribunal to install a mast on the land, generally regardless of the landowner’s objections.

Based upon a ‘no network assumption’, the rent payable by operators for such a privilege has to date been assessed at a few hundred pounds for a rooftop in London. Such an application is not rubber stamped, however, and you can try to resist it but you will need assistance. A Tribunal will consider whether the prejudice to the landowner can be adequately compensated by money and whether such prejudice is outweighed by the public benefit.

The presumption is that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few and the rules have been written specifically to disadvantage land owners.

If you are already in such an agreement, it can be ended. But it is a mistake to think that such a decision is easily implemented. Extremely technical notices must be drafted and, generally, 18 months’ notice must be given. You do not want to wait that period of time, commence the proceedings and then find out the notice was flawed and so you have to start again or, even worse, that you have failed to make out the grounds required to terminate the agreement.

You would then have to satisfy the Tribunal that you meet the adequate criteria to have an agreement terminated but you still have to remember the Tribunal will be able to exercise discretion and so, even after all of that, might refuse.

Developers should bear in mind that the only situation where the Tribunal must terminate an agreement between a landowner and telephone operator is if it is proven that the owner intends to redevelop all or part of the land, or any neighbouring land, and could not reasonably do so if an order were not made. In these circumstances developers may wish to enter into negotiations which is something that Boys & Maughan could also assist with.