A group of Selly Oak residents have started a petition to ban estate agents from putting up ‘to let’ signs from residents’ property.
More than a hundred people have signed a petition to ban ‘to let’ signs all year round across the city. A group created the petition claiming that the signs were attached to houses all year round in Selly Oak and other neighboring areas.
Estate Agents are supposed to take down these signs after a house has been bought. However, signs are still seen outside residents’ properties which has now caused outrage towards the estate agents.
The organisers of the petition are asking the Birmingham City Council to make it illegal for estate agents to put up these signs.
The group claims these rules have already been imposed in cities like Leicester, Manchester, and Leeds, which have similar analytics to Selly Oak.
Kathryn Day started the petition which has gained over 250 signatures in the past month. She said that many of the local estate agents have “refused to remove these boards after numerous of residents have asked for them to be removed.”
Florence Owen, 21, is a student who lives in Selly Oak and has already signed the petition to ban ‘to let’ signs. She claims these signs have ‘infected’ the whole residential area.
Owen said: “I think it’s quite annoying that estate agents are still putting up these signs even though students like us are renting them out.
“It doesn’t make the area satisfying and it could well and easy drive students away from choosing Selly Oak as a place to live.”
A spokesperson from the Birmingham Council has claimed it is the ‘responsibility’ for the estate agents to take down these boards after 14 days following the let of the property.
The spokesman also said, “we will be monitoring the situation carefully to see whether or not enforcement measures are needed.”
