Estate Agents Boards are like Marmite, those that call to have them banished of our streets forever, those that don’t really care and those that think they are essential.

Why Do People Hate Boards? – Hate sounds like a strong term I know, but seriously Estate Agents Boards have a knack of rubbing up people the wrong way. The “Board Tree” where three or four boards are clumped together, the “Board Hedge” a seemingly endless row of multi-coloured posts and boards attached to railings and now appearing on a street sign near you, the “Board Weed” – little directional arrows pointing the way to yet another board. In some cases they may actually have a point.

Why People Don’t Mind Boards? – With everything that goes on in todays wonderful and wacky world we have other things to worry about, we have our noses pointed at our smart phones, we chat to friends as we walk forever connected and to be blunt unless a board is whipped out of the ground and hits you right between the eyes, we don’t notice or we just don’t get bothered by them.

Why Do People Love Boards? – Yes there are people who like boards, or rather the reason the board is there, they look beyond it at the property it is advertising or in the case of new home developments the signs send you off to a glorious hoarding, displaying wondrous depictions of elegant lifestyles. Vendors also love their boards, it proudly stands outside their home and says “Look at me, now buy me!”, an advertisement of their desire to sell – hoping to catch anyone’s eye (not literally) who happens to pass. Lastly there is the Estate Agency – The “For Sale” board displaying their stock & the “Sold” board to show potential vendors how good they are, whilst the combined amount of boards allows them to silently show off to their competitors.

Are Boards Here To Stay? – Currently there is no alternative, if every vendor agreed to not have one erected outside their home you might think that would suffice, alas one would break the mould attempting to gain the edge on marketing, followed by another and so on. There is an old adage in Estate Agency “Boards Breed Boards”.

Can We Ban Boards? – Nope ! (That’s short and sweet). OK, lets put it a different way, back to Marmite, if you like it then you will probably enjoy the advert that comes on during a commercial break but if you really hate it, there can be nothing worse than it being lit up on a 50 inch screen in your living room – oh wait, maybe it can – you paid for the 50 inch screen, you paid for the right to watch the channel its is on and when you go to do your food shopping, there it is, saying “Look at me, now buy me!” (For the record, I love Marmite – please don’t try to ban it!).

What Can Be Done ? – Every Local Authority has regulations that cover the erecting of Estate Agents Boards in their area and it is up to them to enforce these to stop fly boarding (putting up a board where it is not allowed). With apartment blocks or flats that have the “Board Hedge” outside, this comes under the Management Company of that particular block and they can demand they be removed (that would most likely be a term in the leasehold), but Estate Agents can do the most, collect their boards on time, make sure the board is in a good condition to be on display, re-erect any board that is falling over and collect those boards that end up shoved in hedges, ditches and down foot paths. None of this will change peoples opinions of boards, but it will make them more acceptable and not such an eyesore.