Knock Knock, Who's There?
The Government has confirmed that estate agents can only operate legally under the current pandemic rules if they lock their branch doors to prevent unplanned walk-ins.
This follows a warning given to a Guild of Property Professionals member in Gloucestershire following guidance from their local authority that they would be shut down unless a locked-door policy was followed and, if found not to be complying, the business would face a fine.
Following the warning the Guild contacted the local authority concerned and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to establish whether locked doors are now mandatory rather than ‘guidance’, and civil servants have confirmed that it is.
“After much deliberation, it was determined that…while the agent was following the Covid-secure guidelines, they had not had their office door locked,” says the Guild’s Compliance Officer Paul Offley (pictured).
“This situation serves as a warning that local authorities are being proactive and taking action where they believe an agent is not operating under a locked door and only seeing clients who have made an appointment.
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.
Trees and their Importance to the Environment
What is a Tree Preservation Order?
A Tree Preservation Order is an order made by a local planning authority in England to protect specific trees, groups of trees or woodlands in the interests of amenity. An Order prohibits the:
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cutting down
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topping
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lopping
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uprooting
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wilful damage
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wilful destruction
of trees without the local planning authority’s written consent. If consent is given, it can be subject to conditions which have to be followed. In the Secretary of State’s view, cutting roots is also a prohibited activity and requires the authority’s consent.
What are a tree owner’s responsibilities?
Owners of protected trees must not carry out, or cause or permit the carrying out of, any of the prohibited activities without the written consent of the local authority. As with owners of unprotected trees, they are responsible for maintaining their trees, with no statutory rules setting out how often or to what standard. The local planning authority cannot require maintenance work to be done to a tree just because it is protected. However, the authority can encourage good tree management, particularly when determining applications for consent under a Tree Preservation Order. This will help to maintain and enhance the amenity provided by protected trees.
Chancellor's statement to the House of Commons – Furlough Extension
Oral Statement, as delivered by Chancellor Rishi Sunak, on 5 November 2020.
Mr Speaker,
On Monday, the Prime Minister set out the action we need to take between now and the start of December to control the spread of coronavirus.
In response, we’re providing significant extra support to protect jobs and livelihoods in every region and nation of the United Kingdom:
An extension to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme;
More generous support to the self-employed and paying that support more quickly;
Cash grants of up to £3,000 per month for businesses which are closed, worth over £1 billion every month;
£1.6 billion for English councils to support their local economy and local healthcare response;
Longer to apply for our loan schemes and the Future Fund;
The chance to top-up Bounce Back Loans;
And an extension to the mortgage payment holidays.
All on top of more than £200 billion of fiscal support since March.
This statement follows the Bank of England’s monetary policy decisions earlier today, meaning all economic and monetary institutions are playing their part.
As you would expect, the Governor and I are in constant communication as the situation evolves.
Our responses are carefully designed to complement each other and provide certainty and support to people and businesses across the UK. The Bank’s forecasts this morning show economic activity is supported by our substantial fiscal and monetary policy action.
And the IMF just last week described the UK’s economic plan as “aggressive”, “unprecedented”, successful in “holding down” unemployment and business failures and “one of the best examples of coordinated action globally”.