Controls on 'To Let' Ad Boards

The Direction restricting deemed consent for letting boards has expired, and the City Council is currently in the process of applying for a new Direction from the Secretary of State.

The City Council applied for the original Direction in 2011 as the large number of letting boards was having a harmful impact on the character and visual appearance of several neighbourhoods. We recognised that it would be unreasonable to require property owners to apply for advertisement consent for every new letting board in the area, so we created a design guide for letting boards. This document provided guidance for landlords wishing to display letting boards on their residential properties in the Direction Area, and letting boards displayed in compliance with the guidance would not be subject to enforcement action.

In order to ensure we are able to conserve the visual amenity and character of local street scenes, we will be kindly asking agents to continue following the guidelines set out in this document whilst we undertake the statutory process to apply for the Regulation 7 Direction.

Our preference is always to work in partnership with the agents and we hope this request will be observed. In the event we are issued with a new Regulation 7 Direction and this request has not been observed then we would have to consider undertaking enforcement action to enable any boards not meeting the guidelines to be removed.

A number of complaints have been received regarding the quantity of letting boards erected in certain areas of the city by members of the public, resident groups, and councillors. This has prompted a reassessment of the need to reapply for letting board restrictions, which lapsed in 2023.

As part of the scoping for reapplying, checks were made available data sets, including Student Council Tax Exemptions, alongside site visits to the areas previously restricted, as well as adjacent streets.

This scoping exercise concluded that, in all but one instance, no changes were required to the boundaries. The exception relates to the former Sandfield Centre at the corner of Lenton Boulevard and Derby Road, which, since the last restrictions were imposed, has been redeveloped for residential use, resulting in the erection of a number of letting boards.

 The situation has been kept under review for over a year, with the number of letting boards continuing to increase. In discussions with the Executive Member for Housing and Planning, it has been agreed that the Council will seek to reapply for the restrictions to be reinstated (subject to the minor change), but for an extended period of 10 years.  

As part of the process for reapplication, we will undertake consultation with members of the public, landlords, letting agents, resident groups, and other key stakeholders, such as the Universities and Student Unions, and take on board comments made prior to submitting the proposal to the Secretary of State for approval.