Moving house can be stressful at the best of times – whether you’re moving to meet the needs of an expanding family, looking for a smaller or more suitable home, or moving for work – there are a great many things that need to be dealt with and decisions to be made.
Lockdown Life in the time of Corona
All of these things that need consideration in normal times have come under an extra whammy of the Coronavirus pandemic, the lockdown, and, of course, placing the wider property market on hold. Some of you may have already exchanged contracts; or are about to exchange and set the final moving date. Others are just in the throes of starting the house-hunting process and may be planning a summer holiday or autumn move.
Safety and Protection first
At the time of writing this article, we are in the earlier stages of knowing when the effects of this challenging time will show signs of easing. First and foremost our thoughts of safety are with you, our customers, and our staff and drivers, which is why – regardless of official government guidelines, we have temporarily closed our office and depots.
The latest gov.uk guidelines for removals firms are as follows:
Removals firms
There will be people who have already committed to moving home; where possible we are encouraging them to delay their move but a small number of moves may need to go ahead. We would urge everyone to take all sensible precautions to ensure the move can happen safely.
- Removers should honour their existing commitments where it is clear that the move can be done safely for the client and your own staff and it is clear that the moving date cannot be moved.
- Removers should follow the latest government guidance which currently (26 March 2020) states that work carried out in people’s homes can continue, provided the tradesperson is well and has no symptoms or coronavirus (COVID-19).
- It is important to ensure government guidelines are followed, including maintaining a 2 metre distance from others, and washing their hands with soap and water often for at least 20 seconds (or using hand sanitiser gel if soap and water is not available).
- No work should be carried out by a person who has coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms, however mild.
Exchanging contracts
Once you have exchanged contracts, you have entered into a legal agreement to purchase that home.
- If the property you are purchasing is unoccupied you can continue with the transaction.
- If the property you are purchasing is currently occupied, we recommend that all parties should work to either delay the exchange of contracts until after the period where stay-at-home measures to fight coronavirus (COVID-19) are in place, or include explicit contractual provisions to take account of the risks presented by the virus.
Planning ahead for your next move
While you are waiting for the lockdown to come to an end, you can start making plans to put dates into your calendar for moving home or office. There are quite a few things you can already be doing.
- First things first: You can send us a video survey of your space, room by room, and we’ll work out a quote for you. Details on how to send us a video can be found on our website here.
- Give us an idea of your preferred moving date and we can make sure we have availability in the time of your choosing – why not provisionally book early to avoid disappoint through securing your spot with a refundable deposit?
- Plan your Packing and Know your Size: How many boxes do you need? Have a read through our information about the size of your house and the average number of boxes you can expect to use – more information here
- As soon as the lockdown has been lifted, and it is safe to move you, we will be raring to go! And we are sure – so will you!
We’ve been moving people for more than 40 years. We are a trusted and reliable family business based in Yorkshire, and we’re here to move you around the corner and around the world…and back! We’ll let our customers share with you how they feel about our service, and hope that we’ll be moving you soon too.
There is also more help and advice on our website, and you are more than welcome to get in touch with us for anything you need.
A final word from government guidelines:
Buying and selling homes during this stay-at-home period
Given the situation in the UK with regard to the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19), we urge parties involved in home moving to adapt and be flexible to alter their usual processes.
There is no need to pull out of transactions, but we all need to ensure we are following guidance to stay at home and away from others at all times, including the specific measures for those who are presenting symptoms, self-isolating or shielding. Prioritising the health of individuals and the public must be the priority.
We look forward to moving you soon – Shires Removals
