Virtual Viewing : Business as Unusual in Practice

Virtual Viewing approach - an update:

The new landscape

With the adoption of our new ‘virtual viewing' approach and property valuations by way of video walk-throughs, and with all our staff working safely from home, a quote that really resonated with us this week was “We can’t change the direction of the wind, but we can adjust our sails”.

We are proud to say that we were quick to ensure as far as possible that we can continue sharing the details of available properties with these new measures to help prospective tenants secure their new home, to minimise any potential ‘void periods’ on properties brought about by these unprecedented circumstances and to ensure the safety of our customers, staff and contractors. We have definitely noticed a sense of community and team spirit from all involved in property; as staff, tenants and also landlords work hard together to navigate these troubled waters.

The good news

The good news regarding our newly implemented virtual viewing approach is that we have either conducted a virtual viewing or received a virtual viewing from existing tenants for the majority of our available or upcoming properties on our portfolio over the past two weeks with contingency measures in place to market those properties that cannot be reached to conduct virtual viewings. Despite social-distancing and working from home, more than 50% of the properties we have advertised in this way are under offer with applications being processed, and anticipate more over the coming days.

Short-term to long-term

In recent weeks we have seen a significant rise in the number of short-term landlords enquiring about long-term letting solutions to combat the voids they are experiencing as a result of the measures implemented to tackle COVID-19. There are a number of elements required to become a long-term landlord and ensure the property meets the required standards.  The good news is that most good quality short term rental properties should already achieve that level, and the administrative requirements to become a registered long-term landlord can be done online or remotely. To help with the compliant and safe transition for these landlords and their properties, we have produced a landlord checklist which can be referred to in the first instance for those who find themselves in this tricky situation and to provide fully transparent recommendations and predictions for your property within the letting market in months to come.

We hope that everyone stays safe throughout this difficult time.