Back to practicalities for coming week - Estate Agents

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nicholsong

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As I am not in UK so I cannot check for myself, can Members please advise whether Estate Agents, Sales and Lettings, are open.

My Letting Agent in London is not answering the phone nor e-mail.

Geoff
 
My ex son in law, manages an estate agency in Norwich,, he’s happily sitting at home on his 80% or £2.500 per month,, shop closed and no notice on when open!! X
 
We are still operating from home, email and telephone messages. Our office is closed. So you should be able to speak with/or at least email and get a response!
 
nicholsong said:
As I am not in UK so I cannot check for myself, can Members please advise whether Estate Agents, Sales and Lettings, are open.

My Letting Agent in London is not answering the phone nor e-mail.

Geoff
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A relative has a large estate and lettings agency in London. He has the estate agent business on hold but working with limited staff from home still operating the lettings and management agency.

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Here, they are working from home with no face to face meetings. Also, there are no removal firms operating on the advice of their association.
 
Our letting agents are working from home, I haven't tried calling but have been emailing and getting replies quite quickly.
 
Minxy Girl said:
Our letting agents are working from home, I haven't tried calling but have been emailing and getting replies quite quickly.
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Same as us. They notified us of their arrangements.

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Just met with mine this morning as I have tenants moving into one of the new builds this morning
He is working from home but they are not doing viewings to new clients just admin and emergency stuff.
 
nicholsong said:
As I am not in UK so I cannot check for myself, can Members please advise whether Estate Agents, Sales and Lettings, are open.

My Letting Agent in London is not answering the phone nor e-mail.

Geoff
Click to expand...
I can only answer for our company. We have 1 member of sales and 2 lettings staff either working from home or in the office so all emails are being answered and we had phones diverted to all of our mobiles (although that's been cut down as most of us are now furloughed). Also my daughter who is a property manager for a rival lettings agent is working from home and is very busy. EDIT: DD's manager is manning the office to answer phone calls.
 
Geoff, see

The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020

These Regulations require the closure of businesses selling food or drink for consumption on the premises, and businesses listed in Part 2 of Schedule 2, to protect against the risks to public health arising from coronavirus, except for limited permitted uses. Restrictions are imposed on...
www.legislation.gov.uk www.legislation.gov.uk

The Regs appear to be quite hurriedly drafted, but the intention is clear, that is to state which businesses are allowed to be open. Arguably there is an implied intention that any businesses offering services that fell through the cracks because they are not specifically mentioned are not allowed to stay open. Normally you would argue that any business not specifically mentioned is outside the ambit of the Regulations, but here I am not so sure.

Estate agents are also not specifically stated on the Part 2 of Schedule 2 list of businesses subject to restrictions or closure. It seems to be aimed primarily at bricks and mortar based businesses not online businesses. Car showrooms and auction houses are on that list, so the question is whether estate agents are sufficiently similar by the nature of their business to be implied within the intention of the Regulations to make them subject to restrictions or closure. It may be that Regulation 4(4) could apply to estate agents. I think it does, by implication.

Having said that, I doubt if the Police will try to take any enforcement action against estate agents whose offices stay closed, and whose staff are working from home and conducting virtual viewings, as long as social distancing is carried out and the staff are not leaving their home without a reasonable excuse.
 
I have had an e-mail answering most of my questions, so now just waiting for one answer when the Manager next goes to the office in order to access my file.

Thanks for all info in replies.

Geoff

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I would have thought that letting agents are an essential service. What happens if you have a major flood and can't live there, decide to move out to reduce risk to the rest of your household if you're a frontline worker, return to the UK with no permanent address or whatever.
 
The Wino said:
I would have thought that letting agents are an essential service. What happens if you have a major flood and can't live there, decide to move out to reduce risk to the rest of your household if you're a frontline worker, return to the UK with no permanent address or whatever.
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As said above my daughter is really busy as a property manager but their lettings agents have been furloughed as viewings, property visits etc. are not allowed so moving property is not happening. Her and her colleagues are doing a lot of counselling/advising as some tenants are very concerned about paying their rent going forwards. She still has to arrange essential maintenance e.g. boiler repairs etc. while still trying to keep tenants & contractors safe.
 
The Wino said:
I would have thought that letting agents are an essential service. What happens if you have a major flood and can't live there, decide to move out to reduce risk to the rest of your household if you're a frontline worker, return to the UK with no permanent address or whatever.
Click to expand...

If the buildings insurer (flood claim) doesn't find you some temporary accommodation airbnb would be the short term answer to your question. There is an exception in the Regulations for holiday accommodation to stay open to provide accomodation for the homeless. A further exception exists for a purpose requested by the local authority so the Housing Department ought to be able to help. Letting agents are only middle men.
 
We moved recently, and the agents we had to deal were all working...to a degree at least. Removal companies are also moving so you shouldn't have any trouble in that regards.
 
They're very busy around the south west, Houses selling like hot cakes

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