May the 13th – Not an unlucky date for the Housing Market…
Lucy Owen, Partner and Head of Resales:
T’was the night before Wednesday 13th May 2020 and being a typical married couple, myself and the husband were sitting on the same sofa ignoring each other and scrolling on our phones instead. Looking through the news I saw an announcement which made me more excited than I had been in weeks (sorry Mr O). Seven weeks in fact, since lockdown began.
The green light had just been given for the housing market to start to get back to normal i.e. estate agents and developers/housing associations could start physical viewings again, surveyors could go in properties and carry out mortgage valuations, and non-critical completions could be arranged amongst other things. Now I’m very careful to not to state that the housing market was “re-opened” because it had never been closed (please see my previous, slightly ranty article regarding this), but it certainly meant that more transactions were now free to proceed.
The announcement by the Secretary of State for Housing, Robert Jenrick, did still come with some restrictions however, and quite rightly so for the sake of everybody’s health. On viewings, social distancing must still be observed, anyone selling, buying, occupying or viewing a property must declare any COVID-19 symptoms and postpone any meetings if this occurs. Hand sanitisers should be used and cupboards and doors in properties should all be open, so viewers do not have to touch the handles. And these are a small part of the limitations imposed.
Despite these restrictions, housing associations/developers and estate agents seem to have stepped up to the challenge – viewings are now proceeding in line with the guidelines, but I know virtual viewings are still being used across the board as well. Perhaps this is how viewings will be from now on – virtual viewings first and then if that goes well, a physical viewing would follow (if required), it could definitely save on time. It is abundantly clear that those who work in this industry are absolutely loving being back to semi-normal. I have seen vast amount of posts on LinkedIn from surveyors and sales executives where you can see they are beaming away under their face masks either inspecting properties or about to conduct a viewing.
In terms of the conveyancing aspect, actually not much has changed on that front apart from it being a “go, go, go” situation. Conveyancers had been encouraged to progress transactions as far as they could whilst the tighter restrictions were in place, and I think most of us then had a flood of enquiries from clients who wanted to proceed as soon as possible. Now that the mortgage offers are starting to roll in (partly thanks to mortgage lenders opening up their mortgage product range again), transactions are quickly being progressed to exchange and completion. Some law firms still prefer to exchange and complete on the same day or use an additional clause in the Contract to allow for amendment to the contractual completion date if a party has COVID-19 symptoms (amongst other COVID-19 implications). I suspect that law firms will start to relax these requirements as lockdown eases.
Caution is being urged though to buyers – they should consider more time between exchange and completion in order to get ready for the move, and a deep clean of the property being purchased should be carried out on completion to avoid the risk of catching coronavirus.
I think the overall message to conveyancers is that buyers and sellers need more support than ever to travel though this transaction. No question is silly (I’ve advised 3 different clients this morning that they do not need to apologise for asking me a question – they are paying me after all). The impact of COVID-19 has unsettled everyone and will continue to do this for some time, so some extra hand holding is essential – kind behaviour is what the world needs more of generally.
Whilst the predicted bounce back of the housing market definitely seems to be happening (we provided over 100 quotes for transactions one day this month alone which is unprecedented), we still have to work together to ensure everyone remains safe. Most conveyancers and support staff are still working remotely, social distancing in face to face meetings has to occur together with hygiene measures and extra care should be taken of those vulnerable or shielding clients.
My banana costume will still be in regular use (again see previous article) but the return to the office also sees the return to my normal (read boring) clothes. No matter where we are working though, let’s take extra special care of our clients.