Propertymark bosses have written to the health secretary asking for urgent advice that can be given to agents during the coronavirus outbreak, while Rightmove is concentrating its efforts on supporting agents who work from home.
The Guild has meanwhile brought forward the launch of a video tool to enable remote viewings for its members – it had been due to launch next month but will now go live on March 31 as the Guild’s IT team work on it urgently.
The Propertymark letter was sent yesterday to Matt Hancock by NAEA and ARLA chief executives Mark Hayward and David Cox as the official warnings in the UK stepped up and Boris Johnson said that “many more” families are expected to lose loved ones.
EYE had already asked Propertymark if it was going to issue guidance to agents, particularly on viewings and public access to their offices. We also asked the RICS the same questions but had no response.
In addition we asked the three main property portals if they have any guidance, and whether they might consider a payment holiday for agents.
None of them responded to this second query.
However Zoopla said it hoped that the steps taken by the Government would mean the virus only has a short-term impact on the housing market. OTM said it would monitor the situation very closely.
Rightmove said it will be running webinars over the next couple of weeks to help support agents, with the first one live at 3pm on Monday, with Peter Knight on how to prepare for and make the most of working from home.
A Rightmove spokesperson said: “We’re also sending information to agents to help them prepare if they do need to run their business from home for a temporary period. We’ll be closely monitoring the situation in the coming weeks and will add more relevant topics to help agents.
“We’re closely following government guidance at Rightmove and we have plans in place for all our own employees to work from home if necessary, which have been tested to ensure they’re fit for purpose.”
Guild CEO Iain McKenzie will be holding a Facebook live session next Tuesday (March 17) on conducting business remotely.
One agent looking for a payment break from the portals during the coronavirus pandemic which is wreaking such havoc on the world economy, said it was time that they helped their customers.
Amy Dixon, speaking on behalf of her own business iMoveHome plus agencies Dourish and Day, and James Du Pavey, said: “Mortgage lenders are offering three months payment holiday to anyone affected, interest rates have dropped, and the Government is taking the damage to our economy seriously, but the portals offer nothing.
“Isn’t it time the portals offered agents some ease and recognise they need to help too?
“If they do not react the only survivors will be the corporates – independents may not make it through another tough year.”
The Propertymark letter to the health secretary says:
Re: Coronavirus – advice for sales and letting agents
A high level of social interaction is required to do the job of a letting and estate agent.
Propertymark represents over 20,000 agents working across the UK. This includes sales, lettings, inventory providers, valuers, auctioneers and commercial property.
Agents carry out viewings, property inspections, condition and maintenance checks as well as coordinating the work of contractors and signing of agreements.
By law letting agents must carry out face to face Right to Rent checks in the presence of all adult occupiers and sales agents have strict requirements to carry out Customer Due Diligence checks in order to comply with anti-money laundering legislation.
Many agents are very concerned about their ability to carry out their work in light of Coronavirus.
The virus poses more of problem when tenants are self-isolating and there are issues at the property that need to be resolved or the start and end of the tenancy process with interaction between multiple parties.
Given the importance of housing and the ability for people to buy and sell property as well as rent we implore the Government to provide urgent advice to the sector to ensure that their businesses can continue to operate.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Comments (16)
NOW..would be a really, really, really good time to leave Rightmove.. Just sayin.
If a grossly overdrawn government can make concessions to save businesses from failure, so can the immensely wealthy Rightmove. This is the only way they can retain credibility and save their own skins. If they don’t, firms large and small, will leave in droves. My firm is on the brink and goodbye to RM is imminent without seeing swift and decisive action.
Leave today, why wait?
Rightmove reps policing PIE today me thinks.
Frankly Scarlet Rightmove enquires have dropped from a poor quality level, fallen over the cliff edge and crashed at the bottom of an abyss
As noted by another poster here now is the time to drop Rightmove and refocus your business marketing/strategy post-Rightmove
What this proves is Rightmove needs us, we certainly don’t need Rightmove
Don’t think they will get much advice from the government. As a country we should have had much more interaction and guidance to the public weeks ago.
People are still getting off planes from countries with higher infection rates and walking out through the airport without any screening or checks. Testing is still being done at relatively low levels, and the results are taking far too long.
Then you get the situation where the top person in the country is not screened, despite having been in contact with a person now known to have Covid19.
We will just all have to take it on the chin!
I actually suggested this to a Rightmove manager yesterday.
I told her they are going to lose a third of their clients in the next six months if not more……..
Brace yourselves regional agents with high overheads, corporates and new start ups with little cash……..
And her response was?
I don’t care ???
Exactly!
Can anyone provide details of the Guild’s video services?
Rightmove can shove their webinars right up their 75% net margin. Cancel subs you parasites!
Portal Isolation… My properties need to be invisible for 14 days to 30 days… that might cleanse them.
Maybe now is the time for agents to en-masse give notice to Rightmove?
That time came in mid-2018!
Portals should offer at least 50% off their fees over the next 6 months in order to help agents cashflow.
It’s time for the portals to give back and support the agents.
Email your portals and request discounted fees – if every agent does this then they may possibly listen.