Our Advice Line - a Source of Comfort during the Pandemic

The last seven months have been pivotal on so many levels, it really is difficult to know where to begin. We witnessed the country stop in its tracks in late March, as businesses, our clients transitioned from the office environment to WFH. A task which seems straightforward but not so; where do directors, MDs, office managers, negs, property managers and administrators begin with such a gargantuan undertaking? And yet, they did up until the 12th May when the housing market re-opened to the surprise of everyone working within the sector. What followed was a flurry of activity to get Covid-19 protocols in place for the safe re-opening of the sector, a soft-opening if you will do so many letting agents, estate agents, conveyancers, surveyors - tentatively venturing into unknown territory to be certain that health and safety came first.

Our Role

We, like everyone in business, have been affected by the virus. Our CEO, Susie became ill with virus on the day of the first Lockdown, a worrying time for us all, hoping she would make a swift recovery. Our face to face training was put on hold and with the support of Tony at Pixels and Puzzles, we moved seemlessly online, not just to train but provide clients with extremely important webinars, put together to guide letting agents through what must have felt like relentless changes to existing legislation. Susie came to the webinar party in mid-April when she was certain she could cope with the level of questions being asked; we remember after every webinar or training session, she needed a nap - post-Covid fatigue was a real thing.

Advice Line - The Comfort Blanket

From day one of Lockdown it was clear that our clients would need support. The point Susie always makes with great modesty is that we have the easy job of doing the research and presenting information and resources to our clients, yet they have to implement every single element with Due Diligence. Under normal circumstances that’s sometimes challenging, however add a Pandemic to the mix and the outcome is far tougher.
Not only were people working from home, but in an environment where there were distractions (children, family members needing care and support) and the resources required to do one’s job weren’t there. What’s more with some colleagues furloughed, the work load increased dramatically.

And so our focus became totally client centric. Every single element relating to the Coronavirus Act and its impact was relayed to clients as soon as humanly possible. Free resources, guides, webinars were made available, but most importantly of all, our time. Nothing since the 23rd March has been too much - problems have been given solutions and you will see from our data below that the questions have been diverse in every sense of the word. We have been tenacious even when Government announcements late on a Friday afternoon just before a bank holiday weekend meant we missed out on some time off. It pays off when the clients feel a sense of relief.

Our Top Ten

It’s the Advice Line that keeps us aware of the trends taking place in the Lettings sector. In real time we can tell what letting agents in England and Wales are facing. And the patterns are all the same. Here are our top ten topics from the advice line data we have collated since the 23rd March.

1. Coronavirus and Covid - clearly this has been a daily topic of discussion which is overarching on every aspect of the letting process and business in general. The impact on rent arrears to access to service of notice has been undoubtedly the most significant challenge for agents, and goodness knows they have dealt with it professionally and diligently

2. Managing rent arrears and rent payments - as the UK shit it’s doors on the 23rd March, uncertainty set in. People were concerned about how their lives would change and of course the financial element was at the forefront of everyone’s mind. As some industries ground to a halt, applications for Universal Credit hit the 1 million mark in the first two weeks of Lockdown and Furlough became a word that we had rarely used. Letting agents were faced with a mis- understanding that a mortgage holiday automatically translated into a rent payment holiday. Not so. Mediation was at the forefront of discussions to ensure that tenants and landlords could weather this storm. Landlords showed their altruistic side offering tenants reductions and rent free periods, something that was not reported in the national press, as some tenants used the Covid bandwagon as an excuse not to pay rent.

3. Notices and Notice Periods - The most significant changes to notice periods since the English Government introduced the form 6A in 2015. Two changes to both sections 8 and 21 that bewildered everyone and still is. The first change meant that for both notices, regardless of the Grounds being relied upon in section 8, notice to be given by a landlord would be three months. However, as Government realised that this virus would be here to stay long term, Robert Jenrick announced that notices periods would change again at the end of August to coincide with the end of spring 2021. Sections 21 and 8 were both amended to six months , apart from the grounds relating to serious rent arrears, domestic violence, nuisance and fraud.

4. Access - Never have we experienced a Pandemic, so the feelings this situation conjures up are quite diverse - anxiety, stress, depression, fear of the unknown. Letting agents were tasked to do a job and at times obtaining access for any reason, even gas safety checks, was going to be a challenge. The HSE gave exceptional guidance alongside Public Health England, as audit trails became paramount to ensure that all parties were properly protected.

5. Surrender and Abandonment- with changes in circumstance done tenants just up and leave. Not always easy to navigate. It always much more straightforward when a tenant advises they wish to surrender a tenancy, which means terms can be negotiated to come to a Mutual Surrender for both tenant and landlord.

6. Tenant Well-Being, Death of a tenant or Landlord - Empathy and altruism are present when dealing with these situations.

7. The Courts - from the point of Lockdown there was a misunderstanding that the courts were closed during Lockdown. Not so. The courts were working remotely but NOT dealing with housing claims. However, a claim for possession could still be submitted, it just meant it would take its place in a queue until reactivated.

8. Electrical Safety Regulations - with incorrect guidance issued by the Government, two dates confused landlords and letting agents alike along with the nonsense about Statutory Periodics requiring an EICR. Still ongoing

9. Domestic Violence - statistics showed that during the first seven weeks of Lockdown calls relating to violence in the home were received every 30 seconds by the police.

10. Systems and Processes - the Advice Line is more than just that; we also deal with ensuring that process can be streamlined and an agency becomes more efficient in doing so. Using technology to navigate the twists and turns of Lockdown meant that E-Signature platforms became the saviour for administrative teams and virtual software for the negs, yet while technology was there for connectivity, it was the face mask, sanitiser and social distancing that became the habits we adopted.

Each of the above and more are dealt with daily by our team. It’s not always easy, yet we provide a source of support and guidance whenever possible. As Susie always says , it would be much easier if we trying to herd kittens!