Your tenant- the carrier or tower company that is leasing your land- regularly tries to save themselves money at the expense of their landlords.
They have doubtlessly approached you, seeking a longer-term commitment, or crying poor and looking for modified lease terms, or seeking your signature on a document that you might not understand fully. They often want you to sign here, quickly. NOW.
Before we go further, let's identify the two characteristics of virtually all wireless leases that impact the renegotiation process. First there is a high degree of probability that your tenant can terminate the lease, essentially at their whim, with very short notice. Second, there are very few times over the life of a wireless lease that a landlord has the opportunity to renegotiate. Remember those as we continue.
At first it may seem wise to extend your lease- your tenant will tell you it is wise because it helps assure that they will remain at the site for a longer duration.
Unfortunately, it doesn't.
Remember what we said about the tenant's right to terminate? Whether your lease terminates in 5 years, 10 years, or 50 years they still have that right. When they want to leave they will leave, no matter how much time remains on the lease.
So why are tower companies spending huge amounts of time and money to extend leases? Because it eliminates a point in time that the landowner can renegotiate with bargaining power. The last thing they want to do is negotiate with an educated landlord when they have to extend the lease because very little time remains.
You may notice that the letter asking you to extend the lease comes at random times, with seemingly many years remaining until termination, and if you look closely enough it is often not from the tenant themselves but instead from a third party "lease optimization" company. The problem is that the company is trying to "optimize" the lease for your tenant and not for you. They generally do not have to renegotiated, but rather want to at that time, and will usually dangle a seemingly decent sum of money in front of you to get their way.
But it is a sucker's bet. They are not contacting you because something unique about your site requires them to extend. They are contacting you because they are throwing a bunch of stuff against the wall to see how much sticks.
So a couple of rules apply here. Be wary of anything the tower company or carrier wants you to sign, and do not sign anything until you understand it completely, including future financial impact.
Your lease is probably one of your most valuable assets, and you need to treat it as such. You have a responsibility to educate yourself about everything they throw at you, because if you do not it may cost you greatly.