Do we have a case to keep the money?

[NewMoonSOS]

A few months ago a housing developer put a letter through our door, offering us £500 to put a sign in our garden for six months, advertising the development down the road.

We thought great, £500 for a sign in the garden, sign us up! So they sent the cheque, and put the sign up. A few neighbours also had these signs.

A month or so later, a neighbour has complained to the council about the signs, and we have had a letter saying it's illegal to have an advertisements without planning permission, and we must take them down within a week or risk huge fines! We had no idea it was illegal. The neighbours also received this letter.

Thing is, we have already put the £500 into the mortgage as an overpayment :( We called the council, who said the housing developer should have known better, and we have a good chance of keeping the money as the developer enticed us into 'criminal' activity. Just wondering what MNetters would do, and if the council man is right?

Put the sign in the front window?

Do you have a written contract with them? If so, see what it says? But the developer should surely have known the rules!

No there's no contract. They gave us the cheque and that was it :S

It's fine the developers won't care and won't ask for the money back.

I'd absolutely keep it! I doubt they'll want to advertise their stupidity by asking for it back.

We’ll surely if you had a ‘for sale’ sign up that would be an advertisement and doesn’t need planning permission?

I was also going to say if you have a for sale sign up for your own home surely that is advertising? How big are the signs ?

Paste it on your front window
Heck it’s your garden
You should be able to put a sign up saying whatever as long as it’s not offensive

A sign for your own house doesn't need Advertisement Consent under the Regulations, as long as it is the correct size etc. A sign advertising something else for sale does not have that same deemed consent.

As you didn’t have a contract, nothing saying how long you needed to have the sign up, you have already provided the developer with one month of advertising so you’ve fulfilled your part anyway. Don’t feel bad. Keep the money.

I find this really interesting as around here, there’s loads of estate agent signs that go up advertising school fetes (so advertising the estate agent and the event). I know these don’t have planning permission.

Are you sure it’s actually criminal? If it is that’s ridiculous. Complete overreach.

Bollocks. We had those security fencing when doing our extension and there were 2 signs on it advertising our builder. No one complained and there was no planning for them.

I'd wait to see if the developers contacted me before doing anything.

@CORSACORSA Not bollocks actually!

The Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisement) Regs is a fascinating document.

Sale/letting boards are covered by one rule.
signs advertising local events are covered by another rule.
Signs advertising building works carried out on land are covered by another rule (and if you had two signs it is likely that you were in breach of the Regs too)

For anyone really bored, here's the link Schedule 3 contains all the rules.

From memory, the display of an advert without consent is not illegal unless it is in breach of a discontinuance notice served by the Local Authority.

I’d wait to see if the developers contact you. I doubt they will.

If they do, refuse to give the money back and tell them they’d have to take you all to court.

100% they won’t as they’d lose and it wouldn’t be worth the money or bad publicity to do so.

I wouldn’t give it another thought.

Estate agent boards are banned where I live I'm pleased to say as a forest of them can look awful

To ease your guilt, could you put it in the back garden (laying down) for 5 months? I'm guessing the letter doesn't specify that the sign needs to be visible...

Have you got teen dc? Fashion it into a sandwich board and get the dc out there!

You should be able to put a sign up saying whatever as long as it’s not offensive
What she should be able to do is beside the point. The law is clear, the OP needs planning permission for the signs.