Agents are being reminded that they should work from home where possible during the current lockdown in accordance with government guidance.
Agents can work from the office but they must make arrangements to work safely, and that means operating under a locked door and appointment only basis or run the risk of being shut or receiving a fine from their local authority.
Paul Offley, compliance Officer at The Guild of Property Professionals, said that “ideally agents should be working from home and using virtual tools as the first form of interaction with buyers, sellers, landlord and tenants”.
He points out that if working from home is not feasible and agents are working from an office, the only people they should be allowing in are those who have made an appointment and have undertaken a health check before the appointment confirming that they do not have any Covid symptoms.
He commented: “Following these guidelines will mitigate the spread of Covid-19, while ensuring that the agent is not punished by the local authority.
“As a sector that deals with the public and in people’s homes, it is important that every caution is taken to ensure that all parties involved are kept safe.”
The Guild of Property Professionals last week reported that it had recently been contacted by a member agent who was told by the local authority that they would be forced to close their office or face a financial penalty if they did not operate under a locked door and appointment only basis.
“The agent was contacted by the local authority and told that they were not allowed to be operating and if they continued to conduct business they would be prosecuted,” said Offley.
“At this point, The Guild contacted the local authority, as well as the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to confirm that the agent was in fact allowed to continue to assist people to move home,” he added. “After much deliberation, it was determined that the issue was that while the agent was following the Covid-secure guidelines, they had not had their office door locked.”
Offley continued: “This situation serves as a warning that local authorities are being proactive and taking action where they believe an agent is not operating under a locked door and only seeing clients who have made an appointment.
“While agents are allowed to continue to facilitate home moves during the lockdown, it is vital that it is done so in accordance with the health guidelines that the government has set out or they run the risk of being either financially penalised or closed by their local authority.”
Comments (10)
It obviously varies from location to location but all of our offices are in prime high street positions, our highest grossing office did not actually get many people coming through the door before lockdown as most of the enquiries are via the internet or phone whist others have always had lots of footfall. The offices that have continued to do good levels of business during the current lockdown are generally the ones who have not had the footfall in normal times. So whilst there is an argument to say those offices could work from home, the staff are still busy each day with viewings and registrations so have to be within the vicinity of the office. It is not unusual for our staff to have to travel 30 – 60 minutes each way to the office, working in an office closed to the public except by appointment is the only real solution for us to continue working.
If you are a combined sales and letting agency, and manage a decent sized business, you can’t operate the entire business from home and no one expects you to do so.
While it’s sensible to keep doors closed and operate on an “appointment only” basis, it’s perfectly legal to leave home and enter an office to perform jobs and duties that can’t be done from home.
We are not currently in lockdown, on the face of it all that has happened is pubs and restaurants had to close.
I think working form home if you are able makes perfect sense. Not only form the safety perspective but commercially too.
Say you have an office of 6 people. One person contracts the virus the whole team needs to self isolate That means no one can be operational in the field in making viewings or valuations or taking people to New Home showrooms.
it surprises me so many agents are still in the office- weather they are missing this point, dont care or are unable to work from home. just my opinion of course
I looked into an office window the other day and I know it to be about 500ft/sq. there were 4 people in the main office and one in a small back office. Views?.
In one respect going from house to house to house rather flies in the face of everything the government is trying to achieve; however, if trades are able to go from house to house to house………….?
All madness really…….
The first lockdown did the trick in reducing infection rates. Many suspect this will achieve little; and as far as the market is concerned a mini lockdown at this time of year will just bring forward the Christmas lull for many…….
”The first lockdown did the trick in reducing infection rates”..?
I’m sorry, but this is a fallacy.
Viruses adhere to ”seasonality” (I.e. the cooler and dryer the prevailing the temperatures, the higher the rate of any viral transmission level and viral ‘lifespan’). It is no coincidence that infection rates reduced during the spring/summer. This is entirely normal and quite predictable. The first ”lockdown” was cynically enforced as we entered the warmer spring/summer months.
Have you ever contracted a respiratory virus in summer (with no accompanying/aggravating factors)?
Why then are rates of infection falling in Greater Manchester ? It has been effectively in Tier 3 for a while and now Lockdown 2.0, I can assure you the weather isn’t getting any better.
It may be somewhat naive to hold too much stock in figures bandied about by the our illustrious Government… particularly given that the UK Statistics Authority, amongst many other well respected bodies organisations, and persons have repeatedly slammed Government figures/charts/presentations for their inaccuracies and their deliberately misleading content.
I’m not saying your recollection of figures is incorrect… however interpretation can differ in a state of hysteria…
The number of positive tests in Greater Manchester is declining at the same time as the number of tests carried out has gone up. This has followed Tier 3+ being imposed, it has also coincided with the weather getting worse in direct contradiction of your claim Lockdown doesn’t control infection but the weather does. Feel free to dismiss the facts as naive because it doesn’t fit your narrative though.
It’s almost as if the government advice has been incredibly vague.