What is Outdoor advertising?
Otherwise known as Out Of Home (OOH) media. This encompasses all media opportunities that are presented to the audience when out of home. It includes billboards, advertising hoardings and banner wraps, shopping centres, railway stations and the Underground. It is subcategorised as Roadside, Mall and Transport.

What is an advertising site worth?
This is dependent upon its location, orientation, planning potential/history and the nature of any media licence/lease that currently exists.

How does the Outdoor advertising industry work for landowners?
The majority of Outdoor advertising panels are located on private property. The media contractor will enter into an agreement with the landowner to erect an advertising display in return for the payment of either a fixed or variable rent. It is key for the landowner to enter into an equitable and appropriate form of agreement to ensure that the media asset performs as it should.

What period of agreement should I enter into?
For an established site, an agreement for no longer than three years would be ideal. For new build sites it may be reasonable to consider a longer term but landowners should be wary of the detail of any rent review provisions. If the development has a high initial capital development cost then it is reasonable to consider a longer term but again the detail of the rent review provisions will be key to its future performance.

Should I accept the hoarding contractor’s standard form of agreement?
Under no circumstances should a hoarding contractor’s standard form of agreement be entered into without experienced professional advice. The typical contractors agreement will have automatic rights for renewal, a unilateral rent reduction clause, a low UBR liability cap and a unilateral right to convert to more valuable displays without compensation to the landowner. This is in addition to the obvious issue of whether the agreement should be in the form of a licence or a lease. Recent court cases have suggested that any new agreements should be in the form of a lease contracted out of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 Part II.

Should I sign with a site broker?
Site brokers offer no advantage to landowners whatsoever. They are principals, not agents, and if a site is contracted to a site broker it is traded by them to a bone fide media contractor for a profit rent. That profit rent should be going to the landowner.

Is Outdoor media different from general property?
The dominant legislation is the Town & Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (England) Regulations 2007 which are distinct from general planning law in many respects. Not least of which is that there is no such thing as permanent planning consent. Having said that, the same level of professionalism and attention to detail should be applied when dealing with media assets as any other valuable asset.

Can I sell my advertising hoarding for a capital sum?
There are a number of specialist investors that will purchase freehold and long-leasehold advertising sites where there is a secure income stream.

Should I agree to a contract with a rent review?
That is dependant upon the terms of the rent review provisions which will need to be drafted to reflect the fact that this is a media asset.

Should I enter into a contract with an automatic right for renewal?
No. By reading the small print of the contractors standard form of agreement it is often found that whereas the agreement may purport to only be for a term of three or five years, there is an automatic right for renewal. In the case of a Titan agreement, up to 21 years.

Should I enter into a contract with a cap of the rating liability?
No. Uniform Business Rates are levied upon advertising panels at the standard commercial rate and if a cap is agreed below that level then a liability may accrue against the landowner. Contractors allow for it and will agree to meet this liability in full if the question is asked.

Are all hoarding contractors the same?
No. Each hoarding contractor has individual characteristics and has a portfolio of property unique to them. Therefore, corporate agreements granting all media rights to a single contractor is highly unlikely to maximise performance of the media assets. It is imperative to differentiate at the outset what the different media formats are and then to offer them to the appropriate contractors which will maximise performance of each. The practical implications of the increased management are insignificant.

Do all hoarding contractors operate all the standard poster sizes?
No. It is important to identify which format will be of interest to which contractor.

Is my agreement a licence or a lease?
This is somewhat complex. The general presumption is that an agreement to erect and display an advertising panel is a mere licence but this is a far too simplistic view. Recent cases have suggested that all free-standing displays should be the subject of a lease contracted-out of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 Part II whereas a panel erected on the flank wall of a property is less likely to attract protection.

Can I erect advertising hoardings around a development site?
By the provisions of Regulation 6 of the 2007 Regulations, Class 8 Deemed Consent permits the erection of any number of advertising hoardings around a development site where “building operations” are to commence within three months of the erection of the panels if the development is primarily commercial. There are a number of terms and conditions that apply to Class 8 but this is a valuable opportunity for developers to generate a positive income stream when all the others are negative.

Can I erect a building wrap on scaffolding of a building under refurbishment or redevelopment or demolition?
Class 8 Deemed Consent does not apply to building wraps due to their size and so express consent will be required which will be considered on the basis of public safety and visual amenity. Local planning authorities are generally more amenable to express consent applications for a temporary banner display where scaffolding will otherwise be encased in plain white scaffold safety sheeting. Some local authorities such as Birmingham City Council have been forward thinking and have actually adopted a planning policy to allow temporary commercial banners and building wraps on scaffolding subject to certain terms and conditions.

Is there an alternative to letting an advertising site to a hoarding contractor?
Where landowners have experienced the culling of advertising sites on commercial grounds or where there are opportunities to develop Outdoor media but in a non-standard industry format, for example retail warehouse parks, then there may be the opportunity of erecting advertising panels by selling directly to local media.