Wireless Space Rights Documentation
After due diligence research and collection, site selection, and location confirmation, two tasks remain: finalizing wireless space rights documentation and finalizing local permit wireless rights. Strive to complete each project correctly at the earliest possible opportunity. Then you’re available to accept more work responsibility. Be known as someone who gets work done quickly and correctly. Finalizing space rights lease agreements completes one of the two primary tasks. One of the most challenging aspects of real estate deals can be the final details.
Property Owner Review
The property owner should have been provided with a draft space rights agreement upon or prior to site selection. After the project team site visit, the property owner is expected to sign the A&E firm’s site sketch confirming the facility location. While the survey work is being performed the property owner needs to review the proposed space rights agreement. The site acquisition consultant’s role is to ensure the property owner either verifies the terms of the agreement as acceptable or specifies the terms about which the property owner has concerns, questions, or comments.
Negotiations
As discussed in Module 12 Property Owner Communications, decisions regarding property owner language changes proposed to a space rights agreement are better referred to the client’s point of contact and the project attorney, at least until the site acquisition consultant is familiar with how the client point of contact and project attorney will respond on any given topic. Has the topic been discussed already? Are the policies clearly understood? Are you sure?
The more in-depth the comments and change requests are from the property owner, the more important it is to accurately communicate the background behind the property owner’s concerns.
Corporations
Special requirements exist for property owners who are incorporated. Finding corporate information from the Secretary of State’s website was discussed in Module 12 Property Owner Communications. The primary issue regarding corporations is whether the corporation has formally approved the agreement and authorized its execution by whoever intends to sign it for the corporation. To prove this, a copy of the corporate resolution stamped with the corporate seal and attested to by an authorized corporate officer needs to be requested with the executed agreements from corporations. The Secretary of State’s website in the state of the incorporation can verify authorized officers who can attest to corporate resolutions.
Exhibit Substitutions
Lease exhibits, including the survey, may be completed and revised after a property owner has signed the space rights agreement if the property owner is agreeable. Many facility developer project teams don’t want to wait until the lease exhibits are completed to authorize a final space rights agreement to be drafted for the property owner to sign. Typically, in these cases, a statement on the blank exhibit form says something like, “It is agreed by the parties that the survey [for instance] referred to in the agreement will be attached and made part of this agreement as soon as it is available and approved by the property owner.” If an exhibit is subsequently provided or revised, ask the property owner to indicate his/her acceptance and approval of the exhibit in written form.
Memorandum of Lease (MOL)
A memorandum of lease (MOL) is the reference used predominantly to record leasehold interests. MOLs summarize a few important lease terms in a one- or two-page document for permanent notice in county real estate records. The MOL references the space rights agreement made between the parties, including such items as the property’s legal description, the length of the agreement, and the number and length of agreement extensions. If a ROFR is part of the site agreement, it’s important to include that in the MOL. MOLs don’t need to include any rental payment data.
Final Agreements for Signature (Executables)
When the leasing arrangements are complete, final agreements for signature (also known as executables) are normally drafted by the project attorney and provided for distribution to the property owner. Unless it’s convenient to be with a property owner when space rights agreements are signed and notarized, the executables can be forwarded to the property owner. The package will include additional documents for completing the space rights aspect of the real estate entitlements and for processing the new wireless facility details into the developer’s accounting system for rent payments.
Submitting Property Owner–Executed Leases
The site acquisition process began by collecting due diligence information for the most desirable candidates. The selected site becomes the focus of further due diligence research throughout the process to develop real estate entitlements. As the real estate space rights entitlement is completed, a data set of facility-specific information emerges for the facility developer to utilize for contract approval, full execution of the agreement, and internal administration of the new facility space rights agreement.
Once the site acquisition consultant compiles all documents signed by the property owner, the space rights entitlement package can be submitted to the project attorney for review.
Notarizing and Recording Real Estate Agreements
As discussed in Module 18 Title Insurance Commitment, title policy commitments identify documents recorded in the county records that attach themselves to specific properties. Just as each new property to be developed has a history of transactions, once the wireless facility space rights agreement is fully executed a reference to it can become part of the county records if it is properly notarized.
Notarization is required to record legal documents in the county records. A separate page referencing the document is attached to the back of it for the notarization. This is the notary form or acknowledgment page.