Over the past week, Chestertons has seen a 28% increase in requests to view its rental properties and has brought a number of lettings staff back to work – working from home – to cope with the high volume of new tenants registering and the demand for virtual viewings.

Its sales leads has also increased by around 17% over the same period.

Chestertons Managing Director Guy Gittins said:

“We are of course very keen to get as many of our staff back to work as soon as possible and have been monitoring interest and activity levels on a daily basis to calculate when this might be possible.

“Activity levels are understandably higher in lettings and we have therefore started the phased return of staff, beginning with lettings negotiators in areas of especially high demand, including Fulham, Islington and South Kensington.

“We hope to bring more back over the coming weeks in anticipation of a very busy summer for lettings.

“Sales activity has also been considerably higher than we anticipated at the start of lock-down and we have managed over 40 exchanges in the past five weeks.

“Enquiries are increasing every week, but while viewings are still restricted to video viewings only, we are focusing on progressing our large pipeline of agreed sales as quickly and smoothly as possible for our clients.”

Richard Davies, Head of Lettings, added:

“There has been a steady flow of new tenants registering and doing virtual viewing with us in the weeks since lock-down, but over the past week there has definitely been a sharp uplift in the number of enquiries and the number of tenancies which we have been able to agree.

“We have also noticed an increased sense of urgency from the tenants, many of whom are keen to make offers and move as soon as possible, but mindful of following government guidance regarding home moves.”

“It is also clear that more landlords are now bringing their properties to the market, or at least preparing to do so, as we witnessed a 28% increase in virtual market appraisals and a 24% increase in lettings instructions in the third week of April, compared to the second week.”