Important Update - Covid 19

13 May 2020

Important Covid-19 Update!

News yesterday was suggesting that it was highly likely that Estate Agents and Lettings Agents would be allowed to resume their activities from the 1st June 2020.

There were many articles and comments across social media last night suggesting a potential lift in home moving restrictions and late yesterday evening the Secretary of State released new Public Health Regulations stating all activities in connection with the purchase, sale, letting or rental of any residential property would be permittable from this morning. These regulations will be laid before Parliament at 9.30 am, however it is highly likely normal business will be allowed to resume today.

What does that mean in practice?
Ultimately Covid 19 is still in our lives and no vaccine has yet been found. As such we must remain alert and at the forefront of everything is the safety and welfare of our staff and the general public. We hope that we can rely on your support as we discover a “new normal”.

Branches - We aim to open our offices over the next few days, however in the interest of our team’s safety, customers will not yet be permitted to enter the branches however our telephone lines are open as normal. Any key collection will be by appointment only in line with our existing Covid -19 Policy.

Viewing Appointments - A selection of our properties can already be viewed virtually online via our Video Tours however when this is not possible and if you are living in the home you are selling or renting, you will obviously have some reservations in letting people through your door. Whilst we fully understand how you may feel, we do believe this can be done in a safe way. We have updated our Covid- 19 Procedures which are set out below:

No more than one viewing appointment can be attended at any one time with a maximum of two people in attendance along with the Owner /Agent.
Social Distancing must always be adhered to.
Gloves must be worn together with face masks by all parties concerned. Failure to do so will result in non entry to the property.
The Seller/Agent will ensure all doors are open in order to limit any contact within the property and will remain outside of the property during the appointment.

There will be No “back to back” or multiple viewing appointments

All viewers will be required to electronically sign a Health Declaration to confirm they are experiencing No Coronavirus symptoms, are not self-isolating or have been exposed to anyone displaying these symptoms. The Declaration will be emailed to all viewers when appointments are arranged.

All tenants wishing to view any rental properties must be proceedable and financially qualified. Our team can run through this process at the appointment booking stage.

Those viewing a home to purchase should be “proceedable” I.e. only those who have sold their property (SSTC or Completed), have the cash to proceed without selling, are first time buyers or are living in rental property will be permitted to view. For our clients selling, these guidelines are our recommendation only, which we feel will reduce any unnecessary exposure however, let us know if you do want to continue to let non proceedable people view and we will act upon your instructions.

Valuations - Last week we launched a Virtual Valuation Service and further details can be found on our Website. You can also book your valuation online via the link below:

I hope you will appreciate, we have been operating on a skeleton staff with our teams working remotely from home and as this new legislation has been sprung upon us we need time to re-integrate our team back to work. We also have a significant back log of viewing and valuation requests over the last eight weeks and we would appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through this.

Our Directors are consulting today on how to bring our business back safely, with our staff and customer health at the forefront of our phased reopening.

We will contact all our clients accordingly.

If you have any further queries please call us on 0191 510 3323