Homes in Liverpool and future Covid-19 high alert areas can carry on being sold according to the latest government guidance.
On ‘very high’ Covid-19 alert places, the government has said: “Estate and letting agents and removal firms can continue to work and people looking to move home can continue to undertake viewings.”
Remote working tools are advised to avoid appointments at home. Wherever possible meetings should happen outdoors or in well-ventilated rooms, says the guidance.
Sharing a pen or touching documents and other devices that could transmit the virus should be avoided.
Our managing director Shiraz Khan at Hank Zarihs Associates said it was good news that the housing market could continue and was something property development lenders would be relieved to hear.
Repair and maintenance work still possible
Government guidance on repair and maintenance where it was essential for an operative to visit was to keep to the two-meter distance rule wherever possible. When the two-meter rule couldn’t be maintained then one-meter would be possible if extra measures were taken. These include using screens or barriers, working back-to-back or side-to-side, increased hand and surface washing, getting people to work in ‘fixed teams’, or partnering.
When working in someone’s home extra care in cleaning equipment and general hygiene is required. The guidance says tools or domestic appliances should be assigned to an individual and not shared where possible. If they have to be shared then this should be done by as few as people as possible.
The new Covid-19 alert system for England introduced earlier this week has put Liverpool, Knowsley, Wirral, St Helens, Sefton, and Halton in the high-risk third tier.
People in regions placed in this tier must not meet with anybody outside their household or support bubble “in any indoor or outdoor setting, whether at home or in a public space”.