Selling a Billboard

Quick navigation

Freehold and leasehold billboard spaces exist across the UK, typically in high-traffic areas like city centres, and they are used by companies to place advertisements about their services or what they sell. These spaces can be on plots of land or on the side of buildings, and this guide explains actions you can take that might increase your odds of getting a fair and fast sale.

1. What are billboard properties?
2. Rules on which advertisements are allowed on billboards
3. Factors that might affect the sale of your billboard space
4. Paying Capital Gains Tax after selling billboard space
5. Four methods to sell your billboard property
6. Frequently asked questions about selling billboard space

What are billboard properties?

Advertising billboards, as discussed by the BBC are a common sight throughout the UK, providing essentially blank canvases for companies to place large advertisements promoting their products. They can vary in size and shape, with some reaching several building storeys high, and they are always placed outside of a building.

Some properties might have a blank wall where a large billboard can be placed for a company to advertise, in exchange for paying the property owner money for the duration of the advertisement. Or a billboard might be free-standing in an otherwise empty plot of land, and the same terms and conditions will likely apply to whoever wants to advertise at that location.

Billboards are more likely to be placed on busy roads or in city centres where they will be seen by many pedestrians and commuters, rather than in remote areas where they’ll get few views. After all, the goal of companies using billboards is to make people aware of what they’re selling.

Plots of land where billboards are situated are typically classified as a type of commercial property, because it’s a very limited amount of space and used for the purposes of marketing and not for any type of residential habitation or shop. And depending on the type of billboard plot you own, the property could be considered as either leasehold or freehold when you try to sell it.

Freehold billboard space refers to a situation where you own a plot of land, or a building as well as the land on which it is located, and that has suitable space for posting a billboard. You would then charge companies to place their advertisements for a set amount of time.

Leasehold billboard space refers to a situation where a freeholder has sold you the leasehold on designated property to be used for posting billboards, and you can then rent that space out. The lease typically will last for 1000 years and you’ll pay the freeholder an annual ground rent.

Regardless of which type of billboard property you own, you’re allowed to sell it, and the rest of this guide will walk you through the various stages of how to quickly find a buyer.

Rules on which advertisements are allowed on billboards

Understanding the rules on using your billboard property for advertising can be a great way to give you the advantage when trying to sell that space. Prospective buyers are likely to have several questions about the laws and regulations on billboard advertising, and they could view your property more favourably if you’re able to provide prompt and accurate answers.

Just because you might have a billboard property available does not mean that any company can place any type of advertisement. The UK government has issued on what is and isn’t allowed for advertising, and there are many situations where a company must seek permission from the local authority in advance.

Advertisements are not allowed to offend or hurt people, and companies might encounter trouble if they try to post billboards that have potentially offensive text or images. They must also not block any road signs or other notices related to any kind of transportation.

As a general rule, any advertisement that is posted at your leasehold or freehold billboard space may need planning consent from the local authority if its total size is more than 0.3 square metres. But note that the government’s guide outlines several exceptions to this requirement.

Factors that might affect the sale of your billboard space

Although billboard advertising remains popular in locations throughout the UK, that is not a guarantee that you will be able to immediately sell your billboard space. There are several factors, some beyond your control, that will affect how buyers view the property.

Knowing what these factors are can help you adjust your selling strategy, for example if your billboard space is in a poor condition and you have struggled to attract buyers through an estate agent or auctioneer, you might consider selling to a quick property buying company. These businesses, like LDN Properties, make fair and fast offers to buy all types of properties as is, meaning they can purchase it no matter the condition it may be in. You should consider how much income your billboard can generate as part of this analysis – see this Amplify Outdoor article.

Location: You can’t do anything to change this factor about your billboard space, but you should get more interest from buyers if the property is located in a high-traffic area. If not, you could still get a competitive and fair offer for the space by selling to a quick buyer.

Condition: An important issue buyers will look for is whether the billboard space is well maintained, or if it has significant problems, such as damage to the building where the space is located or rubbish and overgrown grass and weeds if the billboard space is a plot of land.

Costs: If you’re trying to sell a leasehold billboard space then the potential new owner will want to know how much they’ll have to pay the freeholder in ground rent. You should be upfront with people about your current costs with owning the billboard space and not hide any details.

Paying Capital Gains Tax after selling billboard space

After selling your leasehold or freehold billboard, you might face an additional cost if you have to pay Capital Gains Tax. This is a fee that the government charges on profit that you earn from the sale of a physical asset that you own, such as property, cars and other items.

It’s worth consulting with a financial professional about your potential Capital Gains Tax liability when selling your billboard space, because there are certain steps you can take to either lower or completely eliminate your duty to pay this tax. Also note that it the sale results in a loss for you compared to the original purchase price or you break even, this tax may not apply.

Four methods to sell your billboard property

One of the last decisions that you will have to make when selling a billboard space is selecting which of four methods you’d like to use for finding a buyer – selling via an estate agent, selling to a quick property buyer, selling at an auction, or selling without any assistance.

Selling via an estate agent

A significant advantage of selling your billboard space with an estate agent (See this Wikipedia article for guidance on estate agents) is that you won’t be required to do much work.

That’s because the estate agent will take on the responsibility for producing a listing that features photographs of your billboard space and a description of it, and then they’ll advertise this listing online, in their office and in local newspapers. The estate agent will also organise viewings for potential buyers to visit the space, and they’ll hear any offers from buyers.

But this method can add to your selling costs, because estate agents will charge fees based on the final sale price in exchange for their work. This commission will be subtracted immediately from the sale proceeds.

Selling this way can also be quite a slow process, and you should be prepared for waiting more than an entire year before you are able to get a serious offer for your billboard space. If your main goal with selling is getting a buyer as quickly as you can, consider other methods.

You should also be aware that some estate agents unfortunately trick sellers by quoting them an excessively high projected sale price for their properties, despite them knowing that a sale will only be possible at a much lower price. The reason that they do this is to have sellers commit to using their services, so they can profit from commission if they sell the property.

But you can avoid falling for this trick fairly easily, starting by asking multiple estate agents to give you free quotes about the projected sale price of your billboard space. After that, you should look on property sales websites and write down the current and past prices of any billboard spaces that are similar to yours. Finally, calculate an average of all these prices and you should get a better idea of what might be a reasonable asking price for your property.

Another factor to know is that some estate agents are not skilled at selling unique properties like billboard spaces, and only know how to attract buyers to conventional buildings. If these estate agents have never sold a billboard space before, they might struggle to find a buyer for yours. Always ask individual estate agents about their past success with selling billboard spaces, and avoid attempting to sell your property to any company that has never done so.

Selling to a quick property buyer

Quick property buyers are sometimes also known as cash buyers, and they are companies that have the financial resources available to make instant purchases of almost any property. They do not need to first get approval for a mortgage to cover the cost of the purchase, and as a result this makes the selling process significantly swifter than other approaches.

On average, a quick buyer should be able to complete the purchase of your billboard space within weeks after you first contact them – and this schedule covers all of the crucial steps, including paying you the proceeds and exchanging contracts. That’s why selling to a quick buyer is often the best choice for property owners looking to sell on a swift schedule.

And unlike some other methods of selling where billboard spaces could be considered unusual and hard to find a buyer for, quick buyers will not have any such concerns about the property.

LDN Properties has been buying all ages, conditions, shapes, sizes and types of properties throughout the UK since 2003, with a long and varied list that includes not only billboard space but also bed and breakfast properties, homes without FENSA certificates, flats that have noisy neighbours, houses in high risk flood zones, listed buildings, commercial properties, uninhabitable flats, homes that have chancel repair liability, and many other scenarios.

Another great draw of selling to a quick buyer is that the legitimate companies will never make you pay any commission, which means that you can count on keeping the full sale proceeds. That’s a great outcome if one of your aims when selling is ensuring your costs stay low.

To help you identify the right quick buyer for your billboard space, you should ask individual companies if they are members of The Property Ombudsman (TPO). This is an independent entity that writes rules to shield property owners from fraud in the quick buying industry, and all genuine TPO members are required to follow these rules, which should give you peace of mind when selling. Be careful selling to a quick buyer that either claims to be a member of TPO or that refuses to join the organisation, because you may be dealing with a possible scam.

You can check the TPO membership status of any quick buyer by visiting the organisation’s website, clicking on the "Find a Member" tab and then typing in the name of a specific quick buying company. If the quick buyer is genuinely a member of TPO, such as LDN Properties, then you will be shown their full registration details. If you type in a company name and get zero search results then they are not a genuine member of the organisation.

Selling at an auction

Property auctions can be a gamble, as there is no guarantee of what sale price you might get for your billboard space or even if the property will sell.

If the billboard space fails to get any bids then it remains unsold and you will have to start over with trying to find a buyer, which will inevitably add many more months to the process. But if it attracts even one bid at the reserve price – the minimum value at which you are comfortable selling your property – then this is considered a legally binding agreement to sell the billboard space, and the buyer could sue you to enforce the sale if you try to abandon it.

It is vital that you choose a reserve price that will hopefully produce a profit from the sale even after you have paid the auctioneer their fees for their work selling the property.

Auctioneers will handle most of the steps, starting with creating and advertising a listing for your billboard space, followed by hosting the auction and then overseeing completion of the sale. For all of this effort they typically expect to be paid through commission often based on the final sale price you got for the billboard space. The fees are deducted right away from the sale proceeds, which increases your overall selling costs.

You might be able to persuade an individual auctioneer to either reduce their commission rate or make the winning high bidder pay some of your costs, so ask if this is a possibility.

This is not the quickest way to sell billboard space, because it will take several months at least. You’ll have a long waiting time between the date on which you enter the property for sale and the date on which the auction happens. And if the billboard space does sell, the buyer usually has roughly 28 days to complete all of their required steps, such as signing legal documents.

It’s worth approaching specific auctioneers to see whether they might be open to reducing the buyers’ timeline for their actions, because this can help to speed up the after-auction process.

Finally, you might be asked by the auctioneer to choose between selling via the traditional or modern method. If you choose the traditional method, your listing will be advertised for a number of weeks or longer and then the auction will occur on a specific day, when people can place bids on it for a limited amount of time, and the top bid at the end is the winner who is buying your property. If you choose the modern method, the listing will be active for a certain duration and people can place bids on your billboard space 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The top bid at the time the listing expires will be deemed the winner and new owner.

Selling without any assistance

Alternatively, you could try selling your billboard space without any help, which puts the burden entirely on you to handle every step involved with trying to attract a buyer. This includes creating and advertising a listing, organising viewings, and hearing offers from serious buyers.

Don’t think that you can do all of this work in your free time, because selling without any assistance requires a huge amount of time and effort and therefore it can also be very stressful. This type of selling is typically only suitable for owners who have experience selling billboard spaces, or have a qualified family member or friend who is offering to help out for free.

In addition to the stress and work involved with selling on your own, it’s also one of the slowest options for trying to find a buyer. It’s entirely possible that you will be waiting for at least a full year of longer before you get a genuine offer from a buyer. And even with such an offer, the potential buyer could withdraw it any time up to before the exchange of contracts.

The only clear advantage of selling on your own may be not having to pay an estate agent or auctioneer any commission for their work in finding a buyer. But the savings that you make with avoiding third party fees could be eliminated by your advertising costs and other expenses.

If your main priority with selling is not paying a third party any fees, you should instead think about selling to a no-fee quick buyer like LDN Properties. These companies don’t charge property owners any commission, which will help to lower your overall selling costs. And unlike the long time that it can take to sell a billboard space on your own, quick buyers should be able to finalise the purchase of your property just a few short weeks after you contact them.

Top queries and answers about selling a billboard

Property and land owners looking for a quick sale often have some questions for us, ranging from selling a property with a lease through to difference of selling a freehold or leasehold. Here are some of the main questions we’re asked about selling a billboard: