Estate agents tell of key moves in ‘game of survival’
A DERBY estate agent has explained why its branches are staying open during lockdown and offering viewings to people outside Derbyshire.
Hannells Estate Agents, one of the largest in Derby, is keeping all of its offices open, with those in management and sales making up the bulk of the reduced teams in branches.
Cathedral Lettings, in Derby city centre, also has manned offices and is offering viewings.
Numerous staff need to come in to ensure they adhere to GDPR regulations, the rules that govern how businesses handle personal information.
The government has not put any restrictions on house buying or lettings during the third UK lockdown.
As a result, estate agents are handling financial documents and sensitive information which they cannot take home, according to Oliver Brain, Hannells’ valuations director.
But he said they are doing everything they can to ensure staff are in a safe working environment.
Mr Brain said: “Everyone is two metres from each other, every single one of the desks has screens up and if we’re not booked in by appointment people can’t come into the office so we can keep Track and Trace live.”
Oliver said the majority of customers are being dealt with over the phone or online. The majority of people visiting branches are dropping off keys.
“If it’s just a case of handing keys over people are normally left at the front door, depending on how much it’s raining.
“Besides that and the odd signature we don’t really have any inoffice dealings at the moment.”
As well as working in the office, Hannells are also arranging viewings. Many of these have become virtual, but there are still viewings with people going to see prospective houses.
“We have put a lot of virtual viewings in place and any viewers from out of Derby are always viewing virtually initially as well before they can book any kind of personal viewing.
“I’ve done three virtual viewings today, we have been showing people round by FaceTime and WhatsApp. We feel people are getting a good response from that, feeling they’re really seeing the property and getting a good idea of the flow you don’t get from pictures.”
People living outside Derbyshire are visiting properties, with one Hannells member of staff saying they have had people from Birmingham view a house and another viewing had been arranged with a potential buyer from Essex.
All viewings are conduced after a virtual viewing and if the buyers are serious. When they arrive, a member of the Hannells team is there to greet them and only two people from the same household are allowed to view the house in a fifteen-minute time slot.
“We open the doors, let people in to have a look around, we tend to stay in the hallway or the porch, and let them have a look around themselves and answer any questions asked to us,” said Mr Brain.
“But all viewers must be in pairs from the same household. They need to be wearing masks and gelled up as well.”
Hannells staff wear gloves and masks, while ensuring windows are open while prospective buyers are in the house to increase ventilation. The sellers are often present and asked to open doors so buyers aren’t contaminating the house.
Initially, this new style of viewing did cause a problem. “Three or four months ago we had to turn a few people away who weren’t wearing masks, they were frustrated about it, but personally I’ve not heard one story in the last few weeks of that happening. It’s a given nowadays, said Oliver.
“The guys have taken to it really quickly, it’s not too much of a departure from the norm. It’s the same as going to the supermarket but with a pair of gloves or gelling your hands.”
Hannells have offices in Allestree, Alvaston, Chaddesden, Chellaston, Littleover, Mickleover and Oakwood.
Staff from administration and accounting mostly work from home.
Jolieanna Davis, owner of Cathedral Lettings, say they are doing viewings slightly differently.
“We do viewings in a fashion, so we have virtual videos of all our available stock.
“Any enquiries are receiving those in the first instance and if there’s a genuine interest we are doing viewings, but it’s only vacant properties, doors and windows open and they view alone and wear a mask. As long as they’re from the same household we’re not restricting numbers, we won’t show multiple parties round.”
Like Hannells, Cathedral is sending staff into the offices due to GDPR reasons. Although its offices are not open to the public and they operate with a small team of three, with the rest working from home.
Jolieanna has said their job has changed over the lockdowns.
“Previously it was target driven, but it’s turned into a game of survival for the business and our clients.
“We are advising clients on payment holidays for their mortgages, passing those on to their tenants, there was an eviction notice and we were advising people on that too.”
Paid holiday mortgages allow those unable to pay their mortgage to take a one, three or six month break.
They are also keeping in regular contact with tenants. “Because we’re turning more into a crisis service for people, we’re checking in with our tenants and asking if there are any emergency repairs because not everyone is aware of that.
“And by checking in we’ve found 1/40 of our households have Covid, which is quite a big number. It’s quite scary.”
Jolieanna has also noticed the types of home moves are changing.
She said: “Moves are more crucial, moves from people escaping domestic abuse, relationship breakups, redundancies, new jobs, we’re finding home moves are only applying for moves of necessity.
“We’re not seeing the normal influx of Christmas.”