Lucy Owen, Partner and Head of Resales:

T’was the night before Wednesday 13^th 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.

Lucy Owen, Head of Resales (now a part time banana dresser but still a full-time conveyancer).

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/government-advice-on-home-moving-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak

We are delighted to announce that Kerry Hicks will be joining us as a Partner on 1st June.

Kerry will be heading up our New Build Shared Ownership department and will be responsible for a team of 25 staff who last year completed over 2,000 transactions.

Kerry brings with her 18 years of experience and knowledge of the sector and was previously a board member of Women in Social Housing. She comes to Direction Law from Penningtons Manches Cooper where she was a senior associate in their social housing team.

As we start to look beyond the coronavirus crisis, we intend to continue to grow the valuable relationships we have built and look forward to a successful time ahead for us all.

Lucy Owen, Partner and Head of Resales:

In short, the answer to whether buyers and sellers can look to carry on their house moves is a big fat YES! You don’t have to read the rest of this article now… but please do.

The Government has issued guidelines regarding house moves during the lockdown period, the links for which are at the end of this article.  Roughly, the guidelines translate into that if social distancing measures can be adhered to, then moves can proceed if it is critical for them to go ahead.  Effectively, this means that New Build purchases can proceed pretty much as normal as properties are vacant and therefore minimal contact with other people is required for the move.

In the New Build Shared Ownership Department of Direction Law, we have still been able to complete around 100 transactions in April for those clients whose moves were critical.  Innovative ways of handing over the keys have been thought of by housing associations, for example using key boxes and texting the passcode to the buyer once completion has occurred.

Housing associations are also conducting virtual tours of properties and agreeing lower reservation fees in a bid to keep the housing market flowing.

In the Resales Shared Ownership Department of Direction Law, we are also completing those clients who have either already exchanged Contracts and are unable to delay the completion date until after lockdown, or those clients whose moves are critical and can adhere to social distancing guidelines.  With all other transactions, we are progressing them to the point of exchange as far as possible.  Fortunately, we often deal with the same solicitors in the affordable housing conveyancing world, and it’s safe to say the fantastic relationships that we have developed over the years are really paying off now in terms of helping each other throughout this difficult period.

The majority of staff in solicitors’ firms are working remotely (including our own staff where they can) meaning that those firms who mainly send documents through the post rather than email are unable to now.  Emailing documents has the benefit of not only reducing any delays or lost post, but also makes administrative assistants much cheerier as time at the photocopier is reduced – happy days!

Mortgage lenders are also rapidly changing their stance.  At the beginning of lockdown, several lenders withdrew some of their higher loan to value mortgage products.  There was also concern that existing mortgage applications could not be completed as surveyors were unable to inspect properties.  However, at the time of writing, mortgage lenders are now putting back in place their higher loan to value mortgage products (notably Nationwide and Halifax) and are using digital valuations instead, or as well as physical ones.

Despite Michael Gove’s statement that people should “stay put”, this clearly isn’t a correct reflection of the Government’s current guidance (and makes him as popular with home-movers as it did with teachers when he was Education Minister).

In fact, I’ve personally found the negative and somewhat misleading reporting of the position in terms of the housing market somewhat soul destroying as panicked clients have contacted me thinking they were going to lose out in their transaction.  Thankfully I have been able to reassure them and generally we have had very few people withdraw from transactions. Those whose transactions are at the point of exchange, but whose moves are not critical, or who are unable to move during lockdown are just on pause, and the play button will be pressed swiftly once lockdown is over.

Overall, the housing market and its partners in crime are coping admirably well in this crisis – in fact everyone is showing off in their ability to come up with alternative solutions in how to keep matters moving.  It may well be that things will never be the same again in terms of how we deal with the whole process, from the start point of viewings to the end point of completion; but as long as we can aid our clients in fulfilling their dream of home ownership, then quite frankly who cares how we meet the end point? Whether it’s in the office or working remotely in fancy dress!

Lucy Owen, Head of Resales, Direction Law (dressed as a banana, progressing transactions)

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/government-advice-on-home-moving-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-decontamination-in-non-healthcare-settings/covid-19-decontamination-in-non-healthcare-settings