Since closing our showroom and office temporarily on Monday 23rd March 2020, to help ensure the protection of our team members and customers during the Coronavirus situation, we have quickly moved to remote working. Our regular channels of communication remain in place and our dedicated property and accounts managers are working from home and continue to manage efficiently their portfolio of properties. It is business as normal, although a completely different normality, which we are all learning to accept.
In consideration of the health and safety of our customers, team members and the wider community we will no longer be able to carry out any in-person appointments for the foreseeable future.
However, we are able to provide virtual valuations and viewing appointments on request as a pre-cursor to carrying out property visits when the lockdown restrictions ease. Please contact us at mail@bayestateagents.com to book.
Enquiries should be communicated via our usual telephone numbers and email addresses. Due to the lower volumes of staff at this time, we would ask that you are understanding with our response times and try to email where possible. There will be no switchboard available during this time. Nevertheless, we will be aiming to maintain our usual high standards as far as possible.
At the time of writing, this information is correct to the best of our knowledge. However, I’m sure that you will appreciate that the situation is changing daily. Our aim is to bring you regular updates and to keep communication levels with you high. To do this, we will be posting regular bulletins and guidance through our News page and through our social media channels. Please follow us to ensure that you remain connected. Below is a link to our recent Facebook video message to our customers about the recent changes and Coronavirus Act:
Video – Reaching out to our clients
We may not have all the answers for you at this time, but the Government has issued its latest Guidance for Landlord and Tenants which may well answer your queries.
Please report all maintenance issues to your property manager as normal in writing, by email or through our Property Fault Reporting feature on our homepage (www.bayestateagents.com). It is likely at this stage that routine, basic maintenance will be postponed until a future date. However, please continue to report basic maintenance so this can be logged and recorded.
Urgent maintenance with a risk to injury or safety, or of a Category 1 hazard, will take priority.
Work at your property, carried out by a tradesperson or contractor, can continue if the tradesperson is well and has no symptoms. We will be asking our contractors to confirm that they are well and are showing no specific symptoms (dry and persistent cough, raised temperature) before giving the instruction.
Please confirm to your property manager in writing that you, and those in your household, are not experiencing specific symptoms (dry and persistent cough, raised temperature) so that we can ensure a safe environment for our contractors.
No work should be carried out in any household which is isolating or where an individual within is shielding, unless there is a risk to the safety of the household, such as emergency plumbing or repairs, and where the tradesperson is willing to attend.
In all cases, it is important for each party to ensure that Public Health Guidelines, including maintaining a two-metre distance from any household occupants, are followed to ensure everyone’s safety.
During these uncertain times it is essential that we all follow official Government information where there are concerns.
For full details on the latest Government guidance, click here
We would encourage all tenants to continue to pay their Rent in full and on time where they are able. In the event you are affected financially by Covid-19 please contact our offices by email at accounts@bayestateagents.com with an explanation of your circumstances.
We will approach your landlord to discuss the matter on a case-by-case basis. We are encouraging all landlords to work positively with tenants to provide support where needed throughout this difficult period. However, please bear in mind some landlords may also find themselves in financial difficulty as a result of this situation with continuing liabilities such as maintenance and service charges.
Tenants should, as far as possible, delay moving to a new property whilst emergency measures are in place to fight Coronavirus. Government advice is to stay put. However, if moving is unavoidable and for urgent reasons, please contact your property manager to discuss the situation, which can be assessed on a case-by case basis. Please ensure that you are adhering to any notice periods and tenancy terms.
Since the guidance is to stay put, the emergency measures are impacting our ability to conduct check-out procedures for outgoing tenants and patience will be required for a property manager to visit your property to carry out a final inspection. This, along with deposit returns, may have to be delayed until we are in a position to formally conduct check-out procedures. We may ask you to conduct a final inspection of your property via video call.
We will continue to progress the sale/purchase via the solicitors where possible. Should you wish to discuss a particular aspect of you transaction, please do not hesitate to contact us. Please be aware that most solicitors are either advising that the exchanging of contracts and completion are to be done simultaneously and therefore you will need to plan ahead in relation to removals etc.
Where it is agreed that keys are to be collected you must arrange this prior to collection with your Property Manager and follow the strict procedures that will be explained.
For Landlords and Vendors with properties available or coming available, we are continuing to market properties strongly and in the usual way. We are also addressing leads, registering interest and discussing with customers virtual and safe ways for them to view the property. If it is possible for us to create new video footage of properties over the coming weeks, we will.
At Bay Estate & Letting Agents, we really know the Swansea property market. We're local and we'll gladly share our knowhow and experience with honest advice that will be just right for you. So, whether you're buying, selling or letting in Swansea, get in touch. We're here to help.
