AGE Advertising President Andy Goodman has 33 years experience siting and developing billboards. Today he talks about five common out of home lease mistakes.
(1) That the property owner takes possession of the billboard at the end of the lease.
(2) No termination clause giving the billboard company the unilateral reason to terminate a sign lease. If that billboard becomes uneconomical I’ve got to be able to get out.
(3) You haven’t protected your visibility triangle. In 2012 I worked for one of the majors here is Los Angeles. A property owner wanted to develop a property with one of our bulletins on it and guaranteed they wouldn’t interfere with the visibility to Ventura Blvd. They even sent a set of plans that showed no interference. The approval went all the way to Phoenix to have the plans reviewed. When the development was underway we noticed that one of the faces was going to be blocked by the building. I don’t know what the final outcome was to the situation, but this shows the need for protecting your visibility.
(4) Not having language in the lease that only requires removal of the billboard above grade at termination. Therefore, the column below grade and the foundation stays in the ground. I would walk away from signing a lease before I would agree to remove the billboard foundation at termination. Back in the 90’s I was working for a small billboard company and we had to dig a 20 by 20 hole around a foundation to remove the footings of a billboard. That is one of the worst things that any billboard company can allow to happen.
(5) If traffic decreases you need language that allows for a reduction in rent. During the Northridge earthquake a section of a bridge on the 10 freeway collapsed. The billboard companies with this type of language were able to say to the property owners that traffic had been diminished by 100% so we don’t owe you money until traffic comes back.
You contact Andy at andygoodman.age@gmail.com or by using the form below. He’ll be happy to hear from you.
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