Make sure your leases specify that your billboard is your personal property and may be removed at termination of the lease.  That’s the lesson of Outdoor Systems Advertising v Korth.  Here are the facts.

• Outdoor Systems Advertising (“Outdoor Systems”) had a lease for a billboard on some property in Michigan.
• The billboard lease contained the following language: “All signs, structures, materials and equipment placed upon the said premises by the Lessee shall always remain the personal property of and may be removed by the Lessee any time prior to or within a reasonable time after the expiration of the term…”
• In 1996 John Korth purchased the property on which the billboard was located.
• In January 1997 Korth notified Outdoor Systems that his ownership of the building included ownership of the billboard.
• Outdoor Systems brought action against Korth for wrongful eviction.  Outdoor Systems also stated that the billboards were trade fixtures and therefore personal property which it controlled.
• A trial court surprisingly ruled in favor of Korth in part based on the evidence that the billboard structures could only be removed from the building with great difficulty using a crane.
• The Michigan Court of Appeals overturned the trial court’s decision and ruled in favor of Outdoor Systems.  The court found that case law in other states had demonstrated that billboards are trade fixtures; that form and size are not determinate of whether something is a trade fixture ; and that the documentary evidence (e.g. the lease agreements) demonstrated Outdoor Systems owned the billboards.

Insider’s take:  Landlords will try to use creative arguments to say that they own your billboard at the end of the lease.  Make sure your lease makes clear that the billboard is your personal property and may be removed by you at termination.

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