According to the government, around 450,000 people have had to stop their home moving plans because of the lockdown – both rental and home buying.
The announcement has been widely welcomed by all parts of the industry. Estate agents, potential home buyers and surveyors will now be able to gain access to properties and home movers can start to plan their removal day.
Lenders will be able to lend with the comfort of physical home inspections where AVMs and desk top valuations were not acceptable and conveyancers can get transactions moving.
Conveyancing
Jeremy Raj, national head of residential property at law firm Irwin Mitchell, commented: “This is incredibly welcome news, not just for the hundreds of thousands of people whose conveyancing transactions were abruptly halted when the regulations came out, but also for many within the wider residential property industry who feared for their businesses’ survival or their livelihoods if the previous restrictions had remained in place much longer.
“It will be vital for us all to take a cautious and measured approach with regard to the social distancing requirements, but sensible methodologies for viewings, valuations and moving arrangements have already been widely discussed within the industry, which is ready and able to spring back to life, whilst ensuring no unnecessary risks are taken.
“We successfully shifted all of our residential property team to home working at short notice and are well placed to continue to service returning or new clients.
“What has become apparent during this time is that many parts of the industry have not embraced modern or remote methods of working, and we need to ensure that the impetus to update both the conveyancing system and its various component parts is not lost in the scramble to return to normality.”
Valuations
National valuations firm, SDL Surveying will begin physical inspections with immediate effect with new safety procedures in place to protect its surveyors and consumers.
Desktop valuations will now be replaced by physical inspections with remote valuations returning to the minority, thanks to the return of physical surveys.
The firm’s surveyors and booking teams have been brought out of furlough in order to begin working through its lender clients’ backlog of physical inspections.
All SDL surveyors will adopt a specific post-lockdown inspection procedure – already approved by SDL’s lender clients – and each has received their own PPE, which was hand-delivered to them earlier this week at a number of socially-distanced meeting points across the country.
As inspections begin to take place, SDL Surveying has said it will keep abreast of guidance from both the Government and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), plus it will listen to feedback from its surveyors in order to amend and refine its procedures accordingly.
Simon Jackson, managing director of SDL Surveying, commented: “The nature of the threat from Covid-19 means that safety is of paramount importance which is why we’ve put in place a new full inspection procedure that each surveyor will be using on every job.
“A significant amount of work has gone into this from the SDL team and we believe it demonstrates our commitment to our bank and building society partners and a shared desire to get the market moving again.
“We are anticipating a large volume of backlog cases to be completed over the next seven to 10 days which is why we have moved all our surveyors and booking team out of furlough in order to make sure we get through this work as quickly as possible.”
Property market
David Westgate, group chief executive at Andrews Property Group, expects to see significant activity moving forward with a huge initial surge in pent-up demand.
He said: “Though there is uncertainty ahead, the radical steps that the Government has taken to support the economy, coupled with interest rates being cut to a record low, will cushion the property market against the full impact of the lockdown.
“It will be the first quarter of next year before the property market finally gets into its stride again but for now it is off the canvas and back in the fight.”
Mortgage demand
Brokers are still seeing demand for mortgages as Richard Hayes, CEO and co-founder of online broker, Mojo Mortgages, noted: “When it comes to mortgages, though April has been a quieter month than usual across the whole industry, Mojo has still received thousands of enquiries from people who want to purchase a new property.”
Andrew Montlake, managing director at mortgage broker, Coreco, commented: “Demand is certainly still there. We have received a lot more enquiries in May, with many people now looking to move to more rural areas given the perceived reduced risk from future peaks and pandemics.
“The great unknown is how cautious surveyors will be with their valuations and lenders their criteria but that will become apparent in the days and weeks ahead.”
Fraud alert
Commenting on the return to work in the property market, John Dobson, CEO at AML specialists SmartSearch, has words of warning for providers and consumers to be on the alert for fraudsters.
He said: “After several weeks of deep uncertainty, it’s only natural that estate agents and others involved in the property market will want to get back to doing deals again as quickly as possible. But the return to work is the point of maximum danger when it comes to the risk of fraud and money laundering.
“Criminals will be on the lookout for any sign that defences have been lowered, where agencies are not at full strength or may be tempted to cut corners in order to get deals done quickly. The Financial Action Task Force – the global financial crime watchdog – has recently warned of the heightened risk of fraud and money-laundering during the present crisis.
“Estate agents, conveyancers, brokers and lenders all need to be on red alert for suspicious activity.”
