Is removing a real estate "for sale" sign considered a theft punishable by cutting off the hand? And if the owner withdraws from selling his property after receiving the down payment and returning it to the buyer without compensation for damages, what is the name of this reprehensible act, and is it on par with theft?

Assaulting a sign placed by a seller to sell his property is an aggression against another's property without a just cause. This is forbidden, for the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "Indeed, your blood, your properties, and your honor are sacred to you." Lenience towards forbidden acts and trivializing them leads to destruction. The predecessors said: "Do not look at the sin, but look at the One whom you have disobeyed." Destroying the sign is not theft in the Sharia sense unless the conditions and pillars of theft are met, such as taking property secretly from a protected place of its like. Otherwise, it is a forbidden aggression against another's property, necessitating repentance and the restitution of the value of what was destroyed to its owner. There is no basis for comparing a seller's withdrawal from a sale to theft.