'Hands off our For Sale boards' says leading London agency chief

The head of London’s largest estate agency brand has hit back at a council in the capital which wants enhanced powers to ban all For Sale and To Let boards.

Yesterday we reported that Wandsworth council was seeking powers under section 224 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, which would ban For Sale and To Let boards in many parts of the borough. 

Any person found guilty of an offence under that legislation is liable of a fine of up to £2,500 upon conviction in the magistrates' court and up to £250 per day should the offence continue after a first conviction. 

Wandsworth council says such a ban - if it gets the government go-ahead - would not extend to boards often given to parents to advertise local school fairs of fetes. The ban would cover only those boards specifically used to advertise the sale or letting of a property.

Now the founder and chairman of Dexters, Jeff Doble, has hit back and spoken up in defence of boards. 

“A seller or landlord should have the right to promote their property locally by showing a board outside” Doble has told Estate Agent Today. 

“Existing legislation provides all the tools for Councils to police this effectively; if anything needs to change, it is that they should be able to have the benefit of fines rather than the courts, as this would fund their proper enforcement of the law. 

“There are clear and strict rules in law about where boards can be placed and for how long they just need enforcing. Banning boards is unnecessary and unfairly restricts sellers, landlords and agents legally going about their business.  

“Agents using their sign boards for other purposes, such as school fetes is already illegal and can be easily controlled (as in Ealing borough for example) by making it clear to agents that councils will take action. At some times of year, in our view, this would remove over 66 per cent of the boards that are up.”