Big council to roll out estate agency board ban
Westminster already restricts estate agent boards in conservation areas, and now wants to extend this limit across its entire area.
A major central London council, which already has limits on estate agency boards in some areas plans to introduce more stringent restrictions.
Westminster Council currently requires estate agency firms to seek permission for boards in conservation streets.
But it is now looking to extend this rule across the entire borough.
Substantial harm
A report to the Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Development recommends asking the Government for a Regulation 7 Direction, which would mean estate agents have to ask for permission to erect boards.
The council wants a direction that covers conservation areas permanently if it can’t secure one that covers its whole area.
“The unmanaged, and uncoordinated installation of estate agents’ boards can create substantial harm to visual amenity and local character,” the report says.
No longer needed
Boards are no longer needed as most people searching for a new home use online searches, it says.
And “the use of such estate agents’ boards now provides little benefit in terms of advertising individual properties availability to target occupiers”.
There has been some debate in the property industry about whether boards are still needed when online searches have become so dominant.
But many agents still believe they have value in alerting local people or passers-by to the availability of a property to rent or buy.
Agents do though come under fire when boards are not removed swiftly after a property is let or sold.
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