Happy New Year!  This Week in Real Estate took a couple of weeks off in order to spread some Holiday cheer.

This week we will look at Right of Entry Agreements.

The Right of Entry or ROE agreement is important to the telecommunications industry because without obtaining an ROE from a property owner, the carrier is unable to enter property to install certain telecommunications equipment and may miss out on tenant sales to a building, meanwhile the property owner may have upset tenants leading possibly to empty lease space because some tenants will not lease or stay in a building that does not have the broadband services they need.   ROEs are used to respect the rights of private property owners who must have a legal document in the form of an access agreement between themselves and the carrier for the carrier’s desired access to install, operate and maintain the fiber optic and coaxial cabling and/or wireless antennas (with all their associated appurtenances) common to the installation of the equipment needed to provide its services to building tenants.

The Building Owners’ perspective.  Building owners may want some form of compensation for providing to a carrier access to a commercial property with all its disruptions, risks and physical use of space, risers, conduits and power in a building.  Also, many owners seek some form of monetary recognition for the revenues carriers will garner from their tenants. In addition, building owners want to make sure the carrier’s work does not interfere with any of the tenant’s access.  Further, building owners need to make sure the carrier does not interfere with any other systems within the building and are responsible for any damages that may be caused.

The Carriers’ perspective. The Carriers view their services as a valuable amenity to the commercial property, one that takes care of an important need of the tenant and one that is installed at no cost to the property owner.  Further, carriers take the position that, without access to space, riser and conduit, they cannot sell and provide to the property owner’s tenants the services they need.