A man has taken a saw to estate agency boards erected outside his home.

Matthew Hassall, of Croydon, claims the boards – put up outside the block of housing association flats where he lives – are simply there as free advertising for agents.

He says he has been given permission by his housing association, Circle 33, to keep removing the boards and told his local newspaper that he has used a saw to take the tops off some of them.

Naming agents Barnard Marcus and Streets Ahead, he said: “It’s free advertising for them and it makes the place look tatty.”

Barnard Marcus said it would investigate the claims, but thought the boards were legal.

It warned that Mr Hassall has “no right to remove or damage or dispose of the boards that are the property of Barnard Marcus”.

Streets Ahead also said its boards were there legally.

Mr Hassall has threatened to continue removing the signs, saying: “I have tested my saw yesterday and it cuts very well.”

More here from the Croydon Advertiser.