Objection to our "For Sale" sign

googler

What does the lease say about not putting board in window?

pararct

145dude wrote: »

The lease states:

"Not to exhibit any sign announcing that the property hereby demised is for sale or let within 12 months of the date of the lease and otherwise not to exhibit any such sign otherwise than in accordance with good estate agency practice".

The lease began in Sep 2005, so the 12 month bit in the clause is irrelevant now.

You would need to drill down exactly what is meant by 'good estate agency practice' but I would assume this to be a professional looking sign properly constructed and erected and no danger to passers by or other leaseholders.

In other words pretty much bog standard.

Your lease is a legal document its terms cannot be varied (changed) without the tacit approval of the other party to that lease. If the management company wanted to change it then they would need to write to each leaseholder as enquire if any had an objection to such change. It would need only 1 to put the kibosh on it.

Don't let the managing agent fob you off. You have a right to place a sign so long it is in accordance with the lease terms. The 'noisy neighbour' is not your problem its the agents.

2sides2everystory

Almost all developments where there are blocks of flats have something in the lease about For Sale or To Let boards and with good reason: Estate agents and BTL merchants would litter the place with them given half a chance.

Unless you own a share of the freehold neither you nor your estate agent has the faintest right to erect a sign anywhere other than in your window. I would say your window is an acceptable place for a neat agent's notice. It is so on our development.

Think big picture people - we don't all want to live in streets cluttered by sundry estate agent signs of various vintages, unkempt gardens, cars parked on pavements, bins overflowing, mattresses and building waste left out for goodness knows how long etc. etc.

I feel sorry for those that do have to put up with it as the norm, but like the OPs neighbour, I have no intention of letting anyone drag down the standard in my street either, and especially if they are moving on.

Ask your agent to forget putting a sign back up anywhere other than the window, please, because again unless you have a share of the freehold you have no right to affix anything to the outside wall nor to the grounds.

GAH and pararct, save your marketing ideas for streets where people could care less. Some of us are keeping up appearances so people like you still have something worth marketing.

If yours is a well organised well run development then it is indeed your neighbours who run the show for it is probably a number of those who give up their time to volunteer directors of the management company. The managing agents will then do as they are instructed by the directors.

shisslemopp

I wouldn't worry too much about having the sign up. As previous posters have said, most serious buyers will be checking on-line first. Granted, its nice to have the board up, knowing that everyone can see you're for sale, but not worth stressing about.

We went on the market at the end of March with an agent who put up the board even before we'd signed off the particulars. We had 5 viewings in 8 weeks. We changed agent as they we felt they weren't proactive enough, with no board outside for the new agent, we had 15 viewings and accepted an offer within 2 weeks, and they still don't have a board outside. Although I keep telling them they should at least put up a Sold (stc) board for their own advertising benefit. But they keep forgetting! lol.

it just goes to show you that you don't really need a sign these days.

Good luck though

JQ.

Tell them you've "changed your mind" about the service charge and ground rent and will no longer be paying them.

I can understand why some people get hacked of with signs on flats - there are some blocks near me where there are 10 for sale boards permenantly erected in the car park, that would annoy me.

However, the actions of the neighbour and managing agent would annoy me more and I would be digging in my heels, just for the fun of it.

They CANNOT change the terms of your lease once it has been signed without your conesnt. If it states you can erect a board in the grounds then you can. You might want to inform your neighbour that if they wanted a flat without boards in the grounds they should have bought a flat where they are banned.

jodami84

Take the sign and beat the interfering pain in the !!! over the head with it.

Hope this helps.

2sides2everystory

JQ. wrote: »

Tell them you've "changed your mind" about the service charge and ground rent and will no longer be paying them.

I trust you are joking.

They CANNOT change the terms of your lease once it has been signed without your consent. If it states you can erect a board in the grounds then you can. You might want to inform your neighbour that if they wanted a flat without boards in the grounds they should have bought a flat where they are banned.

You are right. The lease cannot easily be changed and already there is nothing to say that there is any right whatsoever to erect signs other than within the demised premises i.e. inside the window (anything outside is not part of the demised premises in the lease).

145dude

Thank you for the additional replies, I've found the bit about displaying signs and windows, and the MA was correct (and I was wrong) in that we can display a sign from INSIDE the window, the lease prohibits from displaying a sign OUTSIDE the window. Either way a moot point as our windows cannot be easily seen from the roadside, thus making displaying in the window pretty pointless.

If the MA felt they were in the right, they would instruct the local oddjob man to remove the sign I am sure of it, which is why I am having to get into dialogue instead of ignoring them.

Some of the other replies have made me chuckle too!!

Alias_Omega

I only found the sign useful in locating the property when arriving to view it. The rest was all done online.

serious_saver

It needs to be asked . . . are you selling because of the interfering neighbour and inconsiderate MA? It would be enough to make me want to leave.

I can understand why you wouldn't want letting agent signs up (they are pretty horrible and the agents tend to leave them up all year) but a for sale sign. Surely your neighbours must realise they're only making problems for themselves if they want to sell in the future.