The Covid 19 lockdown was a challenging time for everyone and the buying and selling of houses has been no different. Home moving was initially classed as not essential and we were unable to carry out home visits which in turn meant that buyers and estate agents couldn’t make appointments to view houses in person. We managed to navigate around this by offering virtual alternatives.
When the government announced the lock down on the 23rd of March there was a particular group of people immediately effected and it was those who had agreed sales prior to lockdown with completion dates almost imminent. Understandably many of these sales were put on hold due to various reasons like one party being in the high risk category. But what of the chains where all parties wanted to move asap? We had such a chain, where we had first time buyers buying one of our properties in Carlisle, the sellers were then buying a vacant property again through ourselves and everyone was keen to move.
The first thing to do was ascertain, was this even possible within the UK government and law society guidelines? Ourselves and the solicitors reviewed both sets of guidelines and discovered that it would be possible to get everyone moved working to the guidelines set and observing social distancing measures. The buyers, sellers, solicitors and us as the agents worked alongside one another to make the move happen. It was agreed that the completion could take place and that the sellers of the occupied property would move out of their property after wiping down all surfaces and door handles etc and leaving it vacant for 24 hours. Those sellers then moved into the vacant property and their first time buyer waited 24 hours before moving into their previously occupied property.
The outcome of this story is that even in the most challenging of times if we work together the right outcomes can be achieved, one of the customers involved in the transaction above sent us this lovely message:
Just wanted to thank you all for selling our home so quickly and getting our purchase completed. From start to finish you were all very helpful and quick to respond to queries and problems involved in our move which was made more stressful with the Covid situation. A professional, friendly, efficient service was provided.