The impending lockdown will not directly impact the housing sector and estate and letting agencies will still be able to continue operating, provided it is done in a Covid-secure manner.
The lockdown regulations were made clear yesterday evening when Propertymark sent out the following message to its members:
‘The Public Health Regulations which will underpin the second national lockdown in England, have been laid and will be voted on in parliament tomorrow [Wednesday].
‘Subject to approval, the Regulations specifically state that activities relating to the sector are allowed to continue under Exceptions to leaving home: to undertake any of the following activities in connection with the purchase, sale, letting or rental of a residential property —
(i) visiting estate or letting agents, developer sales offices or show homes;
(ii) viewing residential properties to look for a property to buy or to rent;
(iii) preparing a residential property to move in;
(iv) moving house;
(v) visiting a residential property to undertake any activities required for the rental or sale of that property;
‘Propertymark is pleased that the importance of the sector has been recognised within arrangements for the coming period. We know that our members need clarity in order to support your staff and clients.’
Timothy Douglas, Propermark’s policy and communications manager, commented: “Following the laying of regulations for national lockdown measures in England we are very pleased that the hard work of our members and the importance of the property sector has been recognised with exceptions in the rules for home moves as well as visits to branches and allowing agents to visit property to undertake any required activities. This is of course, subject to approval by Parliament. However, at this stage all the indications are that buying, selling and renting a home will continue and must be done in a COVID secure way and in accordance with the guidance.”
Clause 6 G of the Regulations (set out in the article) seems pretty clear, but I can’t find any reference to visiting solicitors, conveyancers or law firms, particularly in Parts 1, 2 or 3. Whilst I accept that a lot of property related legal work can be carried out by post or remotely/online, not all of it can be.
The question is (and I have asked MHCLG to comment) is can buyers and sellers visit their property lawyers if it means their home move might not proceed if they don’t?
Have I missed something obvious?
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The draft instrument is fine and it’s clear that the spirit of the rules, if not the letter, allow people to move home with everything this entails.
There’s no way anyone will be fined for conducting an activity that relates to moving home, such as visiting a solicitor.
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The Regulations picked up the various oversights, and bowed to pressure, so we can expect more.
But agreed Rob, who do the Government use for their drafting over the last decade, it’s never been as bad.
Thankfully there are so many exceptions to lockdown, enforcing breaches will be too difficult.
But a client made a good point, she said ‘will banks be open – and can you even visit them – as most won’t let you have your own money over a certain limit without going into a branch’.
Expect more corrections to the Regulations.
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Banks are ok, schedule 5 – public can visit them.
So just lawyers’ offices missed off.
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We really don’t need anything that is even slightly vague whilst transactions are taking so long to proceed. I have been receiving reports that conveyancers, chasing lenders for mortgage monies (in particular HSBC), are having to hold on phone lines for 2, 3 and even 4 hours.
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“I agree with you Rob, shoddy drafting. And I won’t want clients coming to our doors anyway, nor to now facilitate a possible breach of the Regulations either. I haven’t seen a client since before March, and it has worked just fine though.“ BLG Member
“My thoughts are that our client may be committing an offence by being outside of their home without a valid excuse when visiting us because Exemption 1 (clause 6(2)(a) refers to obtaining services from any business listed in Part 3 of the Schedule (which we are not). Could they claim exemption 2 “to participate in legal proceedings”? I’m not sure that they could for conveyancing – is it a “proceeding” or is that actually a reference to proceedings in the courts? I would prefer not to see clients during this time anyway, we can use electronic methods of ID verification now and most clients can find a neighbour or work colleague to witness documents before posting them back.“ BLG Member
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