Traders and residents living in St Margarets Village have expressed their frustration at the countless 'To Let' signs that have been left around the area.
Residents have said advertising signs have been left for up to seven weeks or more on roads including Crown Road, Godstone Road, Kenley Road, and St Margarets Road.
Photo's credited to Robin Bond.
This prompted them to contact more than five letting agencies to request what they described as a 'Christmas amnesty', where signs for properties that have already been sold and rented would be taken down so that shoppers could enjoy the area's festive decorations.
Robin Bond, a 38-year-old St Margarets resident for more than ten years said: "Many of us have noticed that often the same agents have multiple, unnecessary boards on one small street, and these are starting to make the very area we are so proud of look unattractive.
"It’s simply getting out of hand.
"We understand that every board acts as a bit of advertising for letting agencies, but it’s devaluing the very thing that they are trying to create value in."
According to regulations, letting agencies must apply to their local planning authority before placing an advert on a road or street.
Only one board per property is allowed to be advertised and any board that announces that a property has been sold or rented cannot be advertised without an additional board that states if the lease for the property is subjected to a contract.
Sarah Lowes Marla - Lettings Manager for Chase Buchanan in St Margaret's said: "We have been made aware of this last week and we are going to get a team out to circle the area either on Tuesday or Thursday of this week.
"We are the vendor for the landlords so we are within our rights but, if residents are not happy we will of course take the correct steps to put things right.
"We want to see exactly what is going on so that we can remove any signs that we feel no longer need to be advertised."
The 2015 Regulation also states that signs must be take down within 14 days of a property being sold or rented and that signs must be 4.6 metres in height above ground level or at least 3.6 metres in 'Areas of special control.'
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