By Mike Edwards

A West London agent has been fined £250 with £250 costs, by the Courts for erecting a For Sale board in a conservation area and the story shows just how careful agents need to be and the lesson has to be, never assume! The agency was charged with the fine after admitting the offence at West London Magistrates Court yesterday [August 16]. The agent claims the fee was the minimum possible due to the court accepting that the crime was a genuine error and not a deliberate disregard for the law.

Following Instructions.

The incident happened in May, when a client asked the agent for a board to be erected in the same place as it had been seven months previously, which the estate agent duly completed. However, during the interim seven months, Hammersmith & Fulham Council had designated the road in question as a conservation area. The agent claims it was omitted from the list of estate agents notified of this change by the planning office and the offence was reported on May 9 and the board removed 24 hours later, after which the agent assumed the matter was closed. However, at the end of July the managing director received a court summons relating to the offence, which consisted of 34 pages of evidence, including the council’s claim for costs incurred for three hours of investigation and over three hours of legal fees.

MD Reaction.

The agent was stunned by the turn of events, and while admitting to having been in the wrong, said they thought the prompt removal of the board had resolved the matter at the time. It was not a fly board making false claims of success nor a board left up for months it was simply placed in a road where until October 2010 boards were permitted and erected at the request of a landlord who was also unaware of the new restrictions. The MD is convinced the council intended to make an example of his firm feeling that a simple fixed penalty system would save valuable time and resources with prosecution in the Courts reserved for repeat offenders and warns fellow agents that ignorance is no defence.

Summary.

Agents need to ensure that they regularly check their Local Authority Planning website and read public notices in local papers. ‘The onus is on the agent to check, not the Local Authority to inform.’ The council had sought a fine of £2,500 plus £500 costs, he said, but after hearing him speak, the court levied a fine of just £250 on the firm plus £250 costs so in the end not as onerous as the agent expected, but the guilty verdict did confirm where responsibility lay.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Post Navigation