My mother signed a lease in perpetuity. I imagine because she thought she would live here till the end of her life. Unfortunately COVID had other ideas. She died in January of 21. We were going to sell her house but the tower has brought down property value since there is no money to be made from it. Are perpetual leases legally binding if the property sells to different people or if it won't sell because of the tower on property? Is there anything we can do to get more money out of them (American tower) or to entice someone to buy house.
Sorry for the loss of your mom. I will respond to your question in video format.
Quick summary, my telecommunications opinion is that there is nothing that you can do. In exchange for payment she gave them a perpetual easement. This happens all the time in the USA. American Tower has an easement there because they purchased the right to operate that tower there instead of having to go back to the cell tower landlord every 20 or 30 years to renegotiate.
The downside of a cell tower lease buyout is that once you agree to let somebody purchase the rights you don't have any further benefit. The new buyer of the land still has the encumbrance of having a tower on the property, has to give them access, etc.. So it is not surprising that they want to have a discount on the sales price.
The question is how much of a discount are they asking for?
Can you sell the house to a different buyout if half or less of the discount that the current buyer is asking for?
Maybe you could sell it as an "owner financing" deal and actually ask for a slightly higher price since you are the one offering special financing. Those kinds of buyers are probably glad to get a good deal even if it comes with a zero rent cell tower. (Just thinking out loud.)
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