LANDOWNERS have been urged to resist pushy tactics from telecoms companies wanting them to accept lower rents for mobile phone masts.

The companies have paid farmers and landowners several thousand pounds a year for each mast on their land.

There are about 52,000 in the UK – including in urban areas – but market saturation and the recession have seen companies looking to cut costs.

T-Mobile and 3 aim to save £2bn during the next decade by pooling their 3G mobile networks. Vodafone and O2 hope to save hundreds of millions of pounds by sharing their masts.

Ann Laverty, a partner in Denison Till, of York, said many networks were merging and sharing apparatus.

“As a result, some mast sites are being decommissioned and telecoms companies are using this as a way to pressure landowners to accept substantially lower rents – often about 25 per cent – on sites where masts are needed,” she said.

“Our view is that, if a landowner is going to agree to a site being shared by different companies, they should get a commensurate return.”

She urged them to check their leases before entering any talks – if no rent review or break clause is imminent, there is no legal justification for a reduction.

In remote rural locations, landowners should think twice before accepting a big rent reduction.

“If there is a lack of suitable alternative sites, they may be in a far stronger position than they initially realise and be able to resist the pushy tactics being used,” she said.

Miss Laverty has recently acted for several clients who signed agreements without checking the small print.

“Very often they have not understood that they can be stuck with the mast for life and that it can be expensive, difficult and – in some cases – impossible to get the mast moved or re-sited,” she said.

“Many of the landowners who lease sites to telecom mast operators are private individuals, including farmers who accepted masts as part of Government-encouraged diversification, or charities, and the mobile phone masts provide them with an important source of income.

“However, particular care is required in the current round of negotiations not to agree to the operators’ terms which are designed to boost their profits at the expense of landowners already under pressure due to the tough economic climate.”