A Blot on the Landscape!

Board-ering on Insanity?

Estate agents' boards may be nice cheap advertisements for the estate agents, but they deface our fine streets like an ugly and infectious rash.

East Brunswick is an area of period charm, featuring many fine Grade II listed buildings. Just look around you next time you're out for a walk; then close your eyes for a moment and imagine the scene without estate agents' boards. We think you'd agree that this attractive quarter of Brighton and Hove would be a whole lot more attractive without them!

Agents are very quick to put them up but very slow to take them down, but do boards ever actually lead to sales? We doubt it and we'd like to do away with them altogether.

Hey! Play by the Rules!

Not only is our charming area being disfigured by Estate Agents' Boards, but what you see here is not allowed! Planning Regulations clearly state there can only be one board per property for sale or to let. Here there are two.

It is for the City Council to enforce the Planning Regulations for these boards and it is not practical for them to patrol the streets. So we have told the Council about this and asked them to contact the Agents concerned and get something done.

We have also let agents know when we are not pleased. A news item on our front page often does the trick!

This is what we think!

There are a lot of estate agents' boards, they are displayed in virtually every street and square. They are there all the time, as one comes down another goes up, they never go away. We believe they are out of character and inappropriate in a conservation area. Some estate agents actually agree with us!

Estate agents' boards are banned from the great squares and terraces of Brighton and Hove so why not here? East Brunswick has a great many Grade II listed buildings and most of the remainder have a period charm. A ban on boards would improve the area more than anything else.

But so long as we have them, we think that Estate Agents should play by the rules. There should be no more than one board per property, a second is not allowed. They should be taken down within 14 days of a sale or let being completed. At least that would reduce the visual clutter.

EBRA's Campaign

We have petitioned Brighton & Hove City Council to have the ban on boards that applies to Brunswick Estate and Adelaide and Palmeria Squares extended to the whole of the Brunswick Conservation Area, and this is being considered. Councillor Paul Elgood has told us that this stands a good chance of being approved.

In the meantime we will campaign for enforcement of the existing regulations and raise instances of violations with Brighton & Hove City Council and with the offending estate agents.

We urge estate agents to play by the rules:
 • DON'T erect boards where they are not allowed
 • DON'T erect a second board for the same property
 • DO take them down promptly when the property is sold

We have compiled a digest of the Planning Regulations as they apply to Estate Agents' Boards. You can read this below.

How you can help

You can help a lot. Report to us if you see boards that do not comply with the rules. Until thse ugly boards are banned that will keep them to a minimum.

• Report any instance of overlarge boards, bigger then normal.

• Report if two separate boards appear for the same property.

• Report if a board is still there after 14 days of the sale completion.

• Report infringements to the council if you wish, but always report them to us.

We will pass any report on to Brighton & Hove and we will also raise the complaint with the agent concerned. We will keep a record of all such complaints and follow them up.

email us now!

The Regulations in Brief

• For Sale or To Let boards may be erected outside a property without planning consent provided they comply with Planning Regulations.

• The size must not be greater then 0.5 square metres, most boards comply. Adverts for commercial properties may be larger.

• There may be one board only per property. A second board may not be displayed for the same property. A single board may advertise two estate agents but the maximum size permitted is then 0.6 square metres.

• No advertisement may be displayed indicating that the property has been sold or let other than by an addition to an existing advertisement, e.g. a "Sold" sticker.

• Finally, the board must be taken down within 14 days of completion of the sale or let.

Enforcement of the Regulations is the job of Brighton & Hove City Council.

Read the Regulations!