"For Sale" signs on front garden wall

graeme

Wondering if anyone has any advice re: removing for sale signs that the neighbour upstairs have had nailed to the front garden wall for 3+ months. I want to take one down, it's right at the gate and looks crap. The other one is slightly obscured by the hedge, so I can of course live with that, and understand they want to sell and don't want to hinder them.

What happened to putting a sign on the wall of the actual flat being sold? The signs don't mention which property it is that's for sale, so is really just an ad for the agencies.

I found <a href="http://harringayonline.pbworks.com/Estate-Agents-Signs">this</a> site, for Harringay Online which says signs must be removed 14 days after completion - but does that mean they can stay up indefinitely?

The folk who own the flat have moved out, so are never there. Only I get to look at the signs from my ground floor front window, and at the gate too. No one asked if they could nail the signs to the wall which I assume is communal (I rent). Is it an offence to remove them? More than one is illegal anyway apparently.

dorothy

I think more than one is illegal, the one there first can stay. I have one put on my garden wall quite often, because the two flats above me are rented out via Davies and Davies. They put their boards up advertising local school fetes etc. I do find it a bit annoying. Anyway they seem to work their way loose very easily, and then obviously it's better that they're taken off for health and safety reasons. The stakes are quite useful in the garden too.

missisclack

Vendors/land lords are under no obligation to keep the for sale posts in place. It is just advertising.

I used to take them down all the time when I lived in flat conversions. Especially when I knew that the property had been sold/let. Asking the agent to remove them is pointless, because they won't (why would they, it's advertising?).

graeme

Thanks, didn't want to feel like I was some sort of lone mad grumbling neighbour. If one of the signs fell down of its own accord, that would be a pity... Glad other people feel it's a bit of an affront makes me feel less of a vigilante.

At another house, I previously used the 'for sale' stakes to build a fence to deter a nosey neighbour. It didn't quite stay up, but he got well annoyed! Semi-result.

ActionVerb

Following the let of the basement flat below us, the 'for rent/succesful rent by' sign remained on the front garden wall for a good 4-6weeks after they moved in, and I think is one of the reasons why they were broken into. The sign swiftly came down and iron window grills came up (but not so swiftly).