The government has now allowed the property market to reopen, with estate agents able to reopen their offices and buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants able to move around again, helped by conveyancers, surveyors, removal firms, valuers, etc.
Which is great news for those already in the process of moving before the lockdown was imposed, or those who are thinking about doing so in the near future.
However, there are a number of caveats to this reopening. It’s not simply a case of returning to business as normal.
The government has allowed the industry to get back to work, but strict social distancing measures and hygiene protocols must be in place, amongst other significant changes to the normal way of doing things.
Below, we reveal what the government guidance outlines and what this means for home movers.
Face masks, social distancing and thorough cleaning
To ensure that social distancing is kept to in the fight against Covid-19, agents, buyers and sellers have been advised to carry out as much activity online as they can.
“The process of finding and moving into a new home will need to be different given those involved in the process will have to adapt practices and procedures to ensure that the risk of spread of coronavirus is reduced as far as possible,” the government guidance states.. “This will include doing more of the process online, including virtual initial viewings.”
The guidance also encourages people to do the majority of their property searching online. “To support this agents may ask home occupiers to conduct virtual viewings,” the guidance added.
In relation to new-build property sales, the guidance says: “Where possible, developers should promote virtual viewings.”
Similarly, the guidance for the legal professionals involved in house transactions is that conveyancers should aim to conduct as much of their business remotely as possible.
The guidance on moving home also outlines that viewings and public visits to branches should be on an appointment-only basis, while steps should be taken to avoid contact with clients showing symptoms of those who have been advised to self-isolate. In these cases, buyers and sellers are being asked to come to an amicable arrangement regarding postponing the house sale to a time when the person or persons are no longer ill or self-isolating.
Open-house viewings should be avoided completely, while everyone must maintain the standard two metre distance from others during physical viewings as well as wearing face-masks as appropriate.
Agents have been told to insist that buyers make their own way to appointments rather than go in agents’ cars. Appropriate hand sanitiser and hand washing facilities must be in place at properties being viewed, while ventilation should be increased by opening doors and windows as appropriate at homes. Keys should also be cleaned before handover, while agents are also being urged to offer clean paper towels for vendors, buyers and tenants to use during viewings to wash their hands.
The guidance also confirms that all supplementary activities within the property rental and sales process may restart, including surveys, EPC assessments, removals, conveyancing, and the preparation of homes for sale – including the use of tradespeople to complete this – as well as visits to future homes to measure up or have building work done prior to moving in. Again, though, social distancing and hygiene protocols must be adhered to here.
You can read the full government guidance here.
Following the rules to the letter
Here at Kings Group, we will follow the new government guidelines on housing market activity without fail, to ensure our staff and you, our clients, are kept safe at all times. We will encourage and facilitate virtual viewings and valuations where that is possible and desirable, and will ensure we stick to the government guidance at all times while conducting our work in the sales and lettings markets.
The government stated that some 450,000 house transactions are currently in the pipeline – the vast majority of which would have been put on hold by lockdown – while some 300,000 tenancies are coming up for renewal.
This means it’s likely to be a very busy time in the property market, albeit the market will look totally different for some time. The old ways of doing things won’t be back with us for some time, if at all, and we will all have to continue to adapt and evolve as we find ways of operating in spite of coronavirus.
As the government said when reopening the property market, this will not be a ‘return to normality’. It will instead, as we hear so often at the moment, be a ‘new normal’.
Positively, sentiment has remained high throughout the lockdown period, with research suggesting that many buyers and sellers want to act decisively as soon as they are able to. While the next period will take some getting used to, and processes may still be slowed down for a time, the property market has showed its ability to cope with crises and difficulties in the past and will do so again.
To find out more about what our operations are at this time, please call on 020 3953 8030. If you are interested in booking an appointment, click here.
