Read the signs: Considering local council requirements for real estate signage

Local councils throughout Queensland provide statutory instruments setting out the relevant local law regarding the placement of signage in the area, including real estate signs advertising both residential and commercial property for sale and/or lease.

Agents should ensure compliance with the relevant local laws in order to prevent potential fines or other penalties.

Whilst there is often no requirement to obtain a specific authority for each real estate sign to be placed outside a property, there are often detailed requirements which agents ought to familiarise themselves with.

As a point of reference, we set out below the relevant local law for residential real estate signage in the Brisbane City Council Area. REIQ Members operating outside of Brisbane, or advertising display homes or commercial property, may wish to contact their local council to discuss their particular requirements.

What are the requirements in Brisbane?

In May 2021, the Brisbane City Council (BCC) introduced the Advertising Devices Local Law 2021 (Local Law), after concern was raised in relation to the safety of advertising material affecting walkways, footpaths and roadways.

Relevantly for real estate agents, the BCC has provided a statutory instrument entitled the Permitted Advertising Devices Designation which sets out permitted advertising devices which do not require additional approval under the Local Law, including display home and real estate signage [1].

Pursuant to the permitted devices instrument, a real estate sign is defined as a ‘temporary advertising device to facilitate the sale, auction or rental of a property or properties’.

All permitted real estate signs (which may be double faced) must comply with the following requirements:

1. must not remain on display more than 14 calendar days after the settlement date of the property or properties being advertised for sale;
2. other than as set out in these conditions, must not be installed, erected or displayed on a road reserve;
3. must not interfere with the safe and convenient passage of pedestrians;
4. must be placed so as not to interfere with any underground services in a footway;
5. the advertiser must affect and maintain a public liability insurance policy for a minimum of $20 million; and
6. must not contain any illumination if it is situated in Residential or Green Space environments.

In addition, the following requirements in relation to specific signage must be complied with:

Residential real estate sales signs:

1. no more than one residential real estate sales sign, with a maximum area of 2.4 m², may be installed, erected or displayed per agent or agency per property;
2. where more than one agency is handling the sale of a property, the maximum total area of residential real estate sales per sign per property must not exceed 2.4 m²;
3. a residential real estate sign may be located on the side of a footway next to and parallel to the property alignment, if a fence, planting or similar would obscure the view of the sign on the property.

Residential real estate footway signs:

1. the maximum size is 1m high, by 0.6m wide, and 0.6m deep;
2. must be positioned:
   1. at least 450mm from the kerb; and
   2. so that there is a pedestrian corridor of a minimum unobstructed width of 2m between the property boundary and sign; and
   3. no greater than 4m from the allotment boundary of the premises which is responsible for the sign;
3. the footway sign must not obstruct, clutter or detract from the street landscaping, furniture or artwork;
4. a footway sign must not have moving, rotating or animated parts, such as a spinner sign; and
5. only one residential real estate sales footway sign is allowed while an open house or auction event is occurring.

Residential real estate rental signs:

1. no more than one rental sign, with a maximum area of 0.6m², may be installed, erected or displayed per property; and
2. a rental sign may be located on the side of a footway next to and parallel to the property alignment where a fence, planting or similar would obscure the view of the sign on the property.

Small new estate sales signs:

1. may only direct attention to the sale of residential properties in newly subdivided parts of the cCity, where the streets are not shown in recent street directories;
2. the maximum area of a small estate sales sign is 2m².

Enforcement

Should an agent be in breach of the Local Law, there is the potential for enforcement and compliance notices being issued by the BCC [2], including the issuing of penalties should notices not be complied with. Should the BCC be required to remedy a contravention such as to remove or dispose of an advertising device, it may recover the costs of the action if necessary.

Best practice advice

Agents should ensure that their signage is placed in accordance with the Local Law, or the relevant rules/regulations set out by the local council of the subject property. Agents operating across different local council localities should ensure that they are aware of the differing signage laws in each respective area.

In addition, whether or not signage is placed in accordance with the relevant Council’s local laws, agents should ensure that their public liability insurance policies meet the minimum requirements, or at least $20 million in the BCC area, in case of an incident involving signage placed on local footpaths and properties for which an agent may be liable.

See the signage rules in Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Ipswich, Toowoomba, Fraser Coast, Mackay, Townsville, Cairns or look up the local laws for your council here.

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