43% of landlords say Covid risk still too high to complete face-to-face viewings

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Forty three percent of landlords have told LandlordZONE that they will not conduct viewings during the Covid lockdown at their rental properties.

Our Twitter poll, which was launched just before England’s lockdown was announced and closed yesterday, garnered 2,503 responses to the question ‘will you feel comfortable allowing viewings in your property during lockdown?’.

This reflects somewhat mixed messages from the government which, on the one hand, has said property viewings can proceed during the lockdown – provided these are undertaken in line with public health advice and the relevant Covid legislation – but on the other hand says ‘tenants’ safety should be the priority of letting agents and landlords’ and that viewings ideally should be virtual.

Virtual viewings

Research out today from 43-branch agency Andrews has revealed that a third of its viewings were conducted online rather than face-to-face last month.

This chimes with government guidance that urges, where possible, virtual viewings should be used before visiting properties in person in order to ‘minimise public health risks’.

“Landlords must follow sensible precautions to keep themselves safe when they or contractors or others are visiting the property,” the guidance says.

David Alexander (pictured) of lettings platform Apropos says: “Virtual viewings, as a concept, would have been laughed at a year ago but are now the norm.

“Our business has experienced a substantial increase in activity in the last four months with the number of new properties coming to our business achieving a record high.

“All of this was done online, and our new landlords and tenants were happy to work this way.”

Read more: Everything landlords need to know about Covid.

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