McCarthy Holden COVID secure procedures – Updated 5th January 2021

Following new government guidelines, the following is an updated procedure list of requirements that need to be complied to by all staff to ensure safety to both us and the public.

This is an overview of procedures that are required to be completed by all staff, owners and viewers and has been produced after a COVID secure risk assessment. If anyone would like a copy of our risk assessment please email: [email protected]

Offices:

No members of public in office

Key collection by staff working from home or tradesman to be done by prior notification and without entering office – keys prepared and cleaned in advance and on return

Offices cleaned and sanitised morning and evening – use alcohol spray and paper towels –

Hours to be 9am-6pm

Two staff members working in an office maximum

No office communal mugs/glasses/plates to be used

Bring in own bottled water / thermos etc

If possible, bring in own lunch or bring pre-packaged. No use of kitchen facilities ie microwave etc.

Front door to remain locked

Hands to be washed throughout the day and dried using paper towels which are then disposed of

Hands to be washed on re-entering office during the day

Empty bins daily into Biffa bin or official bin bags, tied securely

Viewings:

  • Virtual viewings must be attempted first
  • Viewers must be in the position to proceed
  • 1 or 2 viewers of the same household
  • No children in the property
  • No open house viewing arrangements
  • Identification for right to rent to be taken on viewing

Preparation for viewings –

  • All doors open and windows open for air flow
  • Wash hands with alcohol hand wash or soap and water before and after viewings
  • Vendors to vacate

Procedure during viewing –

  • Agent to use sanitiser alcohol spray on hands before entering the property and repeat at the end of the viewing. Washable/reusable face masks will be provided for each employee to use.
  • Agent unlock property and leave doors open
  • Viewers to wear face masks (please bring own) and use the provided alcohol spray before and after entering the property. If a face mask is forgotten agent with have spare disposable. No appointment without a mask/spray.
  • Viewers enter property on own if there is not enough space to maintain 2m at all times
  • No surfaces to be touched – if a surface is touched it will need to be sprayed and cleaned
  • At end of viewing, all parties need to spray hands with alcohol spray.
  • Once viewers left, agents shut up property and wipe external handles

After viewing –

  • Vendor should ensure surfaces are cleaned and towels disposed of or washed as appropriate.

Take-Ons:

  • Vendor to prepare house, turn on all lights, move anything out of sight, open all doors
  • Vendor vacates to garden
  • Agent to use hand sanitiser alcohol spray and mask and wash hands before and after appointment
  • Any questions/follow ups to be done by email
  • No surfaces to be touched
  • Once finished, spray and wash hands

Market appraisals:

  • Virtual valuations should be investigated first if vendor is able
  • Agent to use alcohol spray and mask and wash hands before and after appointment
  • Agent to complete tour on own if not enough space to maintain 2m
  • Doors to be opened in advance by vendor
  • Any discussions with vendor should be with 2m space – ie garden or large room
  • No paperwork/marketing material to be left – all emailed after

House Market Comment and Covid-19

house-for-sale-lead-news-item-image2

After a week of extraordinary events, full of contrasts and extremes, this news item provides insight into the impact of Covid-19, at a time when house sellers, landlords, buyers and tenants alike are naturally concerned. Chairman and Managing Director John Holden, provides a shop floor snapshot of recent events and details about forward planning for the months ahead.

Today's Insight – Tomorrows Plans

These times are undoubtedly a time of extraordinary contrasts and extremes, where decisions made one day are buffeted by the events of a new day.

A time where yesterday’s commitments are questioned and where planning for the future is sometimes about considering a worse case scenario.

But the extraordinary thing about the last few days and weeks, is that whilst as a business leader I have to prepare for my worse case business planning, I wake up every morning to a still busy day ahead on all fronts creating property transactions on lettings and property sales.

This last week’s trading typifies the juxtaposition between planning for the worse, but still experience the best in terms of trading for now. In just the last few days we have seen properties exchange contracts, we have arranged new homes sales on properties from around £360,000 in Bagshot through to multiple deals in the £2m. to £5m. country house sector, conducted viewing in the £4m. to £5m. sector, watched many existing sales in progress to exchange of contracts, and we have seen many new lettings being agreed in preparation for a move in next week, and finally we had a diary full of property viewings for this Saturday. Extraordinary activity in the circumstances.

Do you have a country house for sale? We have a waiting list of buyers looking right now.

House sales and lettings McCarthy Holden Estate Agents
Activity across all property sectors remained high last week

Timing A Move

We think that some house buyers and sellers will simply elect to have a delayed completion when the moment of exchanging contracts arrives in the coming weeks, this way both parties secure and achieve their moving objectives but only delay the actual move in day.

Home Working

Things will undoubtedly slow down a little and very soon our staff will be working from home, where we can continue with new house sales, transaction chasing and management and valuations with the benefit of technology using Zoom for example. Phone call and emails will be diverted to our personnel working from home very soon.

Minimising Risk When Showing A House

We are aware that vendors and landlords are worried about even the smallest risk of virus transmission, so when we meet buyers or tenants to show them around a client’s property we will be giving them / asking them to wear latex gloves so that things like door knobs, stairs and kitchen equipment are not touched with bare hands.

Whilst we are, as always, delighted to see people, we ask them not to be offended that we won’t be shaking hands and will be keeping a safe distance. In some cases we may not be able to offer drinks or refreshments as we would normally, but instead we will offer you hand sanitiser and facilities to wash your hands during your time together.

Our public announcement about our operational approach to work was distributed to the public recently and is available at this link

Please do subscribe to our newsletter which will be distributed up to twice a week by email (subscription is free and you will find informative content about property, finance and general lifestyle features). There is a pop up sign up on our home page.

It seems that despite Covid-19, the will and sheer determination of people to lead as normal a life as possible is a winning formula for overcoming life’s extraordinary events.

We are available to help our customers and the local community, so do please contact you local branch by phone or email at any time. Business is operating as usual in every respect and we remain committed to the well-being of our staff and customers at this difficult time.

John Holden

Chairman and Managing Director – McCarthy Holden

McCarthy Holden and COVID-19

Covid response

Our response

As with most of the world at the moment, I think everyone at McCarthy Holden are still in shock at what our lives, both personal and business, have become in a very short space of time.

We are hopeful, we are determined, we are anxious, we are planning, we are cleaning, we are keeping busy and we are trying to proceed with everyone’s best interests in mind.

Our responsibility

McCarthy Holden has a responsibility and duty of care to our staff, our clients and our communities. 

This news page outlines some important information about how we will conduct ourselves when visiting a clients home, through to providing insight into how we will progress house sales and manage the hundreds of properties we manage for landlords. As information is coming through daily this will be updated as soon as possible.

Some of us at McCarthy Holden are those at greater risk so have already started working from home – you may notice a smaller number of people in the office, but this is to protect those that need it most. All the decisions that are being made and have been made are guided by Public Health England and we have closely aligned ourselves with the latest government advice and guidance.

With regards to our clients, their health and property, we are continuing as normal at the moment with viewings, negotiations and sales progression, and we are currently very busy. We do expect things will need to change so Skype valuations and viewings are being set up to allow everyone to continue to use our services as best possible. We are also looking at Live chat and Skype consultations with our negotiators or with our sales progressors so communication can be open at all times.

Our request

With anyone who is coming into contact with McCarthy Holden employees – viewers, valuations, office visits – we ask that if you are showing any of the symptoms or are residing with anyone who is self-isolating to please let us know so we can minimise risk.

Whilst we are, as always, delighted to see people, please don’t be offended that we won’t be shaking hands and will be keeping a safe distance. In some cases we may not be able to offer drinks or refreshments as we would normally, but instead we will offer you hand sanitiser and facilities to wash your hands during our time together.

We are also aware that vendors and landlords are worried about even the smallest risk of virus transmission, so when we meet buyers or tenants for viewings we will be providing latex gloves so that things like door knobs, stairs and kitchen equipment are not touched with bare hands. Alcohol wipes and hand sanitisers will be used both in homes and in offices regularly.

Our reply

We will beat this with the rest of the UK by following the governments advice. We will work with everyone to ensure minimum risk. We will help in our communities whenever and wherever possible.

Our future

In the coming weeks, we will be looking to minimise the risk to employees further. Initially this will be through reduced hours or shift rotas and ultimately may need to have all staff working from home in the coming weeks, possibly sooner depending on government directive. That does not mean we are not available to continue our work and we are set up with all communications and technology to continue doing what we do best.

Meanwhile, business is operating as usual and we remain committed to the well-being of our staff and customers at this difficult time. 

We wish everyone a safe time over the coming days,weeks or even months, take care of each other and we hope everyone will be back on track and feeling safe before too long.

Samantha Holden

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