'For sale'... the house that wasn't

A woman came home to find a "for sale" board outside her home, when she had no intention of selling.

Flick Rea suspects estate agents Brian Lack of illegal "fly-boarding" - where for sale signs are put up without the owner's permission to publicise the estate agent.

Mrs Rea, a local councillor in Hampstead, claims the board has embarrassed her. "I had a lot of people asking when I was moving and when the local by-election was going to be," she said.

She claims that Brian Lack told her it was a mistake and the board was supposed to be next door. But she later found no homes in her street were for sale.

Despite her repeated insistence the board be removed, she claims Brian Lack failed to act. Flyboarding, technically a trades descriptions offence, carries fines of up to £2,000 for each board.

Paul Priestley, manager of Brian Lack's West End Lane branch, claimed the board was put up by mistake and was taken down after two days. He said: "Sometimes the board firm gets it wrong. They had a new driver and we had three go up on the wrong properties."