News
House Moving Process During COVID-19 - November 2020
For those seeking clarity on the house moving process during this ever-changing social climate, this article is for you!
The current restrictions imposed by COVID-19 do not prevent anyone from proceeding with the sale or purchase of property.
During these unprecedented times, it is important that we all work together to consciously minimise risk and keep the safety of our customers and our colleagues at the forefront of everything we do. This will ultimately mean changes to the norm regarding our processes and how we operate.
The following sections outline what you can expect from working with us to achieve a COVID-Secure service.
People
We will check on the health of the people working for us daily to ensure no health conditions have changed.
We will protect each other by wearing a face mask when meeting members of the public.
Valuations
Estate Agency is a ‘people’ business and requires interaction with sellers, buyers, applicants, landlords, tenants, and contractors to name but a few. So, the question is, how can we provide safety measures for all concerned?
We will continue to offer our digital valuation and viewing options. This enables us to complete a valuation in accordance with the seller’s instructions, virtually.
All in-person meetings will be by appointment only, and we will confirm the viewing process to all parties prior to the appointment.
We will ask you a few questions regarding potential COVID symptoms or whether someone in your household is self-isolating, and to understand any travel outside the UK within the last 14 days, to ensure we remain COVID-Secure. Please make sure you disclose to us any symptoms when we ask you, in the same way that we would ensure that anyone we send to your property is free from such symptoms. This is designed to reassure everyone involved. All staff have been advised to never attend a valuation appointment if they are feeling unwell.
All parties should wear a face mask throughout the appointment. We will respectfully avoid any handshaking or physical contact and remember to keep our two-metre distance. We may also kindly ask that the occupier opens all doors for us, to avoid unnecessary contact.
We will demonstrate all our marketing via digital resources rather than leaving any paper documents at your property. We will follow up on our meeting by email.
This goes against the ‘grain’ for us, but we will keep any face-to-face contact to a minimum and respectfully decline any coffees/refreshments you may be kind enough to offer.
We will explain to you the actions our firm are taking to reduce the risk of spreading Coronavirus prior to any meeting – reassuring you is paramount to us.
When we return to our vehicles after each appointment, we will safely dispose of our gloves and use hand gel to sanitise our hands. We will also wipe any equipment we have used during the visit.
Where we receive an instruction to sell a property, we acknowledge that all other aspects of our legal obligations are still in force.
EPCs can continue to be provided if no COVID-19 issues exist and the assessor operates in accordance with Public Health England guidance.
Viewings
We will make full use of our virtual viewing tools and only arrange physical viewings where the buyer is genuinely interested in the property.
All viewings will be by appointment only, and we will confirm the viewing process to all parties prior to the appointment.
There will be no open house events for the time being.
We will ask you a few questions regarding potential COVID symptoms or whether anyone in the sellers or buyer households is self-isolating, showing symptoms and to establish if there has been any travel outside the UK within the previous 14 days to ensure we remain COVID-Secure.
When conducting viewings, we will limit viewings to just two households, this will include the seller who would be classed as one ‘household’. Where possible, we may ask the owner(s) and their family to vacate the property for the duration of the appointment.
All parties will be asked to wear a face mask throughout the viewings. We will respectfully avoid any handshaking or physical contact and remember to keep our two-metre distance.
We may also kindly ask that the seller opens all doors ahead of the viewing to avoid unnecessary contact.
We will demonstrate our marketing via digital resources rather than leaving any paper documents at your property. We will follow up on our meeting by email.
When we return to our vehicles after each appointment, we will safely dispose of our gloves and sanitise our hands. We will also wipe any equipment we have used during the visit.
If the property is vacant and we are using a key, we will wipe the key when it is taken from the key cabinet, wipe it after the viewing and again before it is placed back in the key cabinet. We will never travel in the same car as anyone else, always meeting viewers at the property.
Anti-Money Laundering (AML)
We are still required to complete your legal requirements to confirm the identity of sellers and buyers, and landlords and tenants in some cases. This should be completed before a business relationship commences.
Using our own AML platform, we can action an electronic search if that is the only check required. If we do need to take actual documents, the requirement is that this is completed where we can see the individual and the document at the same time – we will wear protective gloves when handling paper documents.
We will ask if you have ‘certified copies’ which you could supply as evidence of identity.
HMRC have not provided any provision where none of the above is possible for health reasons, therefore, we suggest that we arrange a Face Time or Zoom meeting to see both the individual and the document. In this case we would like you to scan across documents and we will clearly certify the method of testing we have used and the reason why.
As soon as possible, we will then arrange a face-to-face inspection and update our records. Our Money Laundering Officer will always sign off any request to proceed on this basis. This will only be used as a last resort and we would have to proceed with caution on any high-risk individual. If we are in any doubt, then we cannot proceed with the business relationship. We would have to refer to our Money Laundering Policy, keeping a clear note of all cases so that we can review them once restrictions are lifted in full.
In Summary
It is our sole intention to work safely, servicing our clients with health and safety as our primary concern. We will continue to review this policy to ensure it remains stringent. We thank you for doing business with us and appreciate you working with us under these new ways of operating during this unusual period.
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