Scottish Landowners Complain of Being “Fleeced” by UK Telecoms Firms

The Scottish Land & Estates (SLE) group has complained that UK broadband and mobile network operators have “fleeced” rural landowners by allegedly abusing the revised Electronic Communications Code (ECC), primarily by only paying pitifully small sums in order to access and use private land.

In the past it was landowners who took much of the blame for disrupting the roll-out of new telecoms networks, not least by creating disputes over complex wayleave agreements, which could sometimes make it far too difficult or expensive for operators to expand their coverage (e.g. charging thousands of pounds in annual rental to install new kit or masts etc.).

The reformed Electronic Communications Code (ECC), which was introduced at the end of 2017 (here), was supposed to change all that by making it easier and cheaper for telecoms operators to access public or private land in order to build new networks. All of this is vital in order to help the Government reach their goals for better 4G / 5G mobile coverage and “full fibre” (FTTP) availability (here).

However we’ve already seen plenty of examples from across England and Wales of situations where some network operators have gone too far, often by offering tiny payments of anything from around £7 to cover the installation of new kit on land or buildings (example). As a result of this the tribunal system that was setup to cope with such disputes soon became clogged with a backlog of cases.

Some progress has been made since then but a fair few issues remain and, perhaps unsurprisingly, this problem has now also cropped up in Scotland.

Stephen Young, SLE Head of Policy, said (Daily Business):

“For the past two years landowners have been fleeced by telecoms giants. They are taking a very aggressive approach to lease renewals, often using underhand tactics to scare landowners into signing agreements they do not understand the full consequences of.

The telecoms operators are shying away from encouraging the landowner to take professional advice, which they are entitled to and should be paid for by the telecoms company.

Many landowners don’t realise they are entitled to this and the telecoms companies are failing to offer this. The Code could be really effective if telecoms operators changed their behaviour.”

The SLE claims that in some cases landowners have been offered a rental of just £1 (down from £10,000 before). Part of the problem stems from the fact that the rental charge is based on the agricultural value of the land, which becomes tiny when the annual leasehold figure is calculated. The Lands Tribunal has already said that they do not feel this is an appropriate valuation method.

In response both the SLE and NFU Scotland have establishing a special telecoms forum in the hope of finding a solution by brining operators and landowners together. Clearly some fairness is needed from both sides.