Proposal Made To Outlaw Estate Agent Boards

Council urged to follow example of other boroughs and ban them in Chiswick

Even Harper Finn's signs would be banned under Christian Harper's proposals

A leading Chiswick estate agent is lobbying Hounslow Council for a change in regulations that would see for sale and to let boards banned from Chiswick.

Christian Harper of Harper Finn says these boards should be ‘confined to Room 101’ as they don’t help to sell houses and without them local streets would look better.

Kensington & Chelsea have banned boards in conservation areas since 1995 using Regulation 7. Hammersmith & Fulham, Wandsworth, Westminster and Camden have also introduced similar measures. Christian wrote to the head of planning at Hounslow Council in June of this year and again last month urging that Regulation 7 be adopted for the Chiswick area but has yet to receive a reply.

In his letter he pointed out that over the past ten years the internet has superseded traditional estate agency techniques. Gone are the days of an agent needing to display properties in glossy magazines and their office windows. He believes that very close to 100% of buyers and tenants go online to find every agent and every property from the comfort of an armchair. No need for them to endlessly drive up and down streets looking for estate agents 'for sale' signs and walk up and down Turnham Green Terrace looking in windows.

Buyers and tenants can now simply select an area in a search criteria on Rightmove or Zoopla. They will then receive an email each and every time an agent adds a property that matches.

Christian says, “With this in mind I began to explore the need and purpose of estate agents signs. Why do we still use them? Is it to sell a property or is it actually just to shamelessly exploit free advertising to promote the estate agents brand? Without sounding like the ultimate ‘turkey voting for Christmas’ I have to admit that in the modern world, I think it’s the latter! Yes you might get the odd phone call from buyers saying they have seen a board but on the whole estate agents are more excercised by the prospect of another house owner seeing the board and then being asked to value another house.

"This is not a new principle as many years ago I worked for Foxtons and the same was true then. The owner (Jon Hunt) always told us that if you managed to get a board in a street, it would lead to more business in that street within the same year. Nothing was ever mentioned about helping to sell that house for the client, it was all about advertising and promotion of the brand.”

Once a sale has been made and the ‘For Sale’ sign is changed to display ‘Sold’ any benefit to the client disappears with the purpose being all about branding for the estate agent or in Christian’s view, “The only reason for this message is so the agent can plump his/her feathers and tell the rest of the street that they have successfully received the email or phone call from Rightmove (98% of buyers and tenants contact agents from property websites) and managed to charge the client an average of £30,000 for the privilege! Estate agents believe they have some kind of entitlement to this free marketing and then proceed to leave the board up for many months until the move day and in some cases beyond, until the new homeowner is fed up and calls them to remove it.”

This is not to mention the many cases in which these boards are used illegally with some agents ignoring planning laws in an attempt to promote their business. The law states that a maximum of one board is allowed per property. Two agents can face each other’s board so it looks like one board but has different firms on each side. You don't have to drive far to see such examples and Christian points to houses on South Parade and Staveley Road that have had three boards displayed for many months not to mention blocks of flats that seem to have permanent boards.

Fly boards (boards that have not be authorised by the property owner or remain for more than 14 days after the transaction) can be easily spotted across Chiswick. Haus still have two boards on Chiswick High Road and they closed down over a year ago. The same can be said for most arterial roads in Chiswick, especially above shops. Chiswick High Road currently has seventeen residential To Let or Let By signs and a search of Rightmove suggests there should only be three.

He also raises the issue of school sponsorship boards saying, “One summer I had 500 sponsorship boards up in Chiswick at the same time which was great for me and also great for the schools that benefited however it wasn't great for the residents of Chiswick who had to look at a sea of boards, it led to many complaints and for every £10 I gave the school, it cost me £10 for design, print and to put up the boards in the first place!

"Agents talk about community and how they generously ‘give back’. I am not aware of any other business that insists on the parents having a ‘fake’ for sale board outside for weeks so as to give £20 each to the school. If agents want to assist the community, give the money to the school in return for a mention in the programme or a banner at the fair, not blight Chiswick with 100 boards for a school fireworks party. For example, Harper Finn annually sponsor the Chiswick lifeboat, we get a very nice mention in the comedy night programme but that's not the reason why we do. Lifeboats save lives. I feel that my business is engaging with the community and giving something back by helping when I can with the lifeboat.”

As Christian points out vendors and landlords do have a choice and can refuse to have a board put up which he is urging people to do until he can persuade Hounslow Council to adopt Regulation 7.

He comments, “It won’t make any difference to your transaction but it will make Chiswick look nicer and maybe estate agents will have to invest much more in the local community to make up for the shameless promotion that they currently enjoy.”

September 4, 2017