An infestation of 'To Let', 'Too Late' and 'Let' boards have taken over Selly Oak for many years.

These letting boards should be removed within 14 days of an agreed letting in line with the 'Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (England) Regulations 2007' regardless of the house being a student property or not. Many local letting agents have refused to remove these boards after numerous residents have asked them to be removed and even telling residents to move out of the area if they do not like them. Letters have been sent from the local Cllr's to remind letting agents of their duties to remove their boards last year however this is clearly been ignored and has been for many years.

These signs blight the landscape and give the distinct impression that Selly Oak is 'studentville' rather than a residential area in which family homes and student HMOs sit side by side. The appearance of this signage does not correlate with the academic year or the time frame that students will likely be house-hunting, more and more it seems to be the case that the signage is a permanent feature advertising the letting agents rather than available accommodation. Please note, this is not an anti-student petition; it is anti our area being used for free advertising.

These boards are causing and are linked to a number of issues in our local area for both, students and local residents.

- Increased crime (criminals target student properties as they know properties will likely contain multiple valuable electronic devices and could be vacated or less secure outside of term time. These boards are advertising that the properties are student let).
- Increased litter (boards are continuously left up for 5+ years and not updated until they fall off housing and left all over the pavement. These boards have been reported to the letting agents however they have not been removed from the pavements to date).
- Put pressure on students to sign house leases early (students feel under pressure due to the high volume of meaningless boards resulting in students signing leases for the first house that they see. A ban of these boards would stop students signing leases early, resulting in the poorly maintained housing left until last and eventually driving up housing standards for our local students).
- Free advertising for letting agents which is a huge eyesore for our local area and it creates an unfair advantage for the smaller letting agents with the usual bigger letting agents taking over the roads with all these boards. Letting agents have told residents that they're left up for advertising and will not be removed.
- Puts families off from buying in the local area which results in landlords only buying up in the area and creates a surplus of exempt and poorly maintained properties in the area. It shows how little respect letting agents have towards their tenants and the llocal area.
 
Various students have agreed and as we are in an online world, students have told us that they do not go up and down roads to see if a house is 'to let' and it is all done through online websites therefore there is little need for these boards and will not pose a threat to local business. Due to the proximity of the area to the University, there will be always be demand for student properties in the area regardless of these boards being present or not.

This petition will be issued to Birmingham City Council asking for a 'Regulation 7' order to be put in place making it illegal for Letting Agents to erect such signs in Bournbrook and Selly Oak as enforcement of regulations has proven inadequate and letting agents have been unresponsive. This has been enforced in many other cities such as: Leicester, Leeds and Manchester in areas with similar demographics to Selly Oak.