Bogus For Sale Sign!!! Please Help!

Sazzyukrafc

I would take pictures of the board and damage to your fence. Then, put them all in a sealed envelope with a copy of the letter sent to the EA with the date on. Send it to the EA and YOURSELF - you have a copy with the exact date on it from the postage mark.

digp

GDB2222 wrote: »

As Mizzbiz says, those signs are surprisingly expensive and it would be crazy to do this for a couple of days free advertising. I expect a c0ck-up, rather than anything deliberate.

£20 is not expensive. Or £7 if they put it up themselves.

pulliptears

We did a Uni brief for an EA and they were quoting in the region of £60-£80 per board.

Personally, Id leave the board where it was and modify it with some of my own sign-age. Perhaps a nice, printed A3 sheet telling the world the EA's are cheats and frauds and do not deal with them...

Catti

Have a look at this one!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/berkshire/3536100.stm

cats!

Bairstow Eves have been prosecuted for this activity in the past.

jimc_2

lynzpower wrote: »

..........Foxtons had taken our board down and erected thier own in its place. ......................

I then told trading standards of this, but not sure what happened next.

I dimly recall that F*xtons were the company fined for this a year or so back. There were reports of junior agents carrying round a stock of boards and nailing them up wherever they could. (Could be misremembering exactly who got done but I'm pretty sure it was F*xtons.) The practice was rife in London.

It was a pretty big fine.

I think that the legal grounds were that 'For Sale' boards have 'deemed consent' (in planning terms) and can be used without needing planning permission if used correctly at the request of the owner. If they are just plonked there it's illegal! If it's really annoying you, tell the agent they're breaking the law and you'll report them.

I'll dig through the archives to find out how much the Agents were fined so you can scare them even more.

(PS Boards are about a tenner or less in bulk.)

Ditzy_2

Jetcut saw - Wickes - like a knife through butter. Cut halfway down cannot put board back up - annoys the hell out of them - job done!!!

Know this as had a spate of boards popping up on communal fence - not a nice site out of your window - soon give up!!!

Boards should only be up till max of 2 weeks after sale - then see original suggestion!!

planning_officer

Imp wrote: »

You could try your planning enforcement officer as this used to be contrary to the old Town and Country Planning Act, but I can't find it in the current Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

It's not contained in that legislation - it's in the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations 2007 (before that, the 1992 Regulations).

These Regs grant a 'deemed consent' for certain types of adverts (any other adverts require an application for advertisement consent, and any adverts that either contravene the above Regulations or do not benefit from any consent, are illegal).

Whilst estate agents signs do benefit from a deemed consent under Class 3A of the 2007 Regs (provided it's on the house or in the garden of the property to be sold - the signs that appear on verges are illegal), I think you could argue that as the property is not for sale, the advert does not have any consent. Therefore it could be argued to be illegal, in which case you could get planning enforcement involved, provided you explain the case thoroughly to them, as if they visit the site, on first impressions it wouldn't look illegal!

scousethife

Why would they put something up for sale that is'nt actually for sale?

Maybe its like that weird mcdonalds advertiseing. They allways have adverts on TV even though EVERYBODY knows about them, same as British Airways and Coke.

Supose it must work as they keep doing it? or it maybe a tax dodge thing

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax

scousethife wrote: »

Why would they put something up for sale that is'nt actually for sale?

Maybe its like that weird mcdonalds advertiseing. They allways have adverts on TV even though EVERYBODY knows about them, same as British Airways and Coke.

Supose it must work as they keep doing it? or it maybe a tax dodge thing

It's because it's an advertisement. People see it.