What is a wayleave?
A wayleave is a legal agreement that grants an infrastructure operator the right to install, maintain, and operate equipment on or in a building. In the UK, wayleaves are most commonly used for telecoms equipment such as fibre optic cables, broadband cabinets and mobile antennas, but also apply to EV charging, energy infrastructure, and more.The traditional process
Without a dedicated platform, wayleave agreements typically follow this path:- An operator identifies a building they need access to
- They contact the landlord (often by letter or phone) to request access
- The landlord consults a solicitor to review terms
- Back-and-forth negotiation over fees, insurance, access hours, and equipment placement
- Solicitor drafts the agreement (£500–£1,500 in legal fees)
- Both parties sign (often by post)
- The agreement is filed in a cabinet and largely forgotten until renewal
The Wayline process
Wayline digitises every step:1
Operator submits a request
The operator finds the building on Wayline, describes the installation, specifies areas required, and uploads their RAMS (Risk Assessment & Method Statement). The landlord is notified instantly.
2
Landlord reviews with AI assistance
Wayline’s AI reviews the RAMS document against 14 safety categories and presents a clear risk summary. The landlord reviews against their pre-set building preferences: fees, insurance minimums and access hours. See reviewing a wayleave request for what each part of a request tells you.
3
Terms are agreed
The landlord approves or negotiates terms. Wayline generates a standardised wayleave agreement from the building’s preferences. No solicitor required.
4
Both parties sign digitally
Legally binding e-signatures under the Electronic Communications Act 2000. The processing fee is collected automatically from the operator via Stripe.
5
Agreement tracked for the full term
The signed agreement is stored digitally with full version history. Wayline tracks expiry dates and prompts renewal before agreements lapse.
Who’s involved?
Every wayleave agreement has two parties:- The Grantor, the building owner, freeholder, or their authorised representative such as a managing agent. They grant permission for the installation.
- The Operator, the infrastructure company that needs to install equipment. In telecoms, this could be an ISP, altnet, or mobile operator.
On Wayline, managing agents can be configured as the Grantor on behalf of the freeholder, or the freeholder can be named directly. See The Grantor configuration for details.
Who pays for what
A wayleave moves money in one direction: from the operator to the building owner. Nothing in the process asks a landlord to pay an operator.
On Wayline the landlord sets the fee rather than negotiating it from scratch each time, the operator sees it before submitting, and it is collected automatically when the agreement completes rather than chased afterwards. Fees attach to events in the agreement’s life rather than to time, so an agreement that runs for years can carry more than one.
Processing fees explained
How the fee is set, the three moments one attaches, and when it is collected.
What happens after the agreement is signed
The five steps above end at a signed agreement, which is where most accounts of the wayleave process stop. It is not where the work stops. An agreement runs for years. It expires. Something has to happen when it does, and the equipment is still in the building either way. Three pages cover that half of the process:Terms negotiation
How proposed terms are contested, answered and written into the agreement.
After signature
Expiry warnings, the conclusion decision, renewal and successor agreements.
Reinstatement
Scope, works, verification and the completion certificate.