Commercial property agencies are being forced to plot their own course for getting business back on track as the UK’s lockdown measures ease, citing a lack of clarity from government over how they should operate while the coronavirus crisis continues.
Avison Young UK president Jason Sibthorpe said there was a “collective feeling” across the real estate industry that the government should by now have offered more clarification on how commercial property site inspections should be conducted.
“That has been lacking, and we’ve got bodies such as the BPF pushing into central government as much as possible to continue to try and seek further clarification around those elements,” he said. “At the same time, you’ve got to recognise that it is very difficult to provide that level of finite detail that every business ultimately does need. There are elements of detail we have to create ourselves.”
Although housing secretary Robert Jenrick revealed on Wednesday the government’s plan to get estate agents, housebuilders and local councils back to business after a seven-week freeze, the commercial market has yet to benefit from such an announcement.
Colliers International and Avison Young were among the first agents to confirm they would be resuming on-site visits this week, following earlier guidelines from the government on a phased lifting of lockdown.
Sibthorpe said that kick-starting on-site visits is critical for the industry. “The ability to actually get back on site with physical inspections… that’s what is impacting all businesses right now in terms of generating revenue,” he said.
The firm has issued staff with protocols include avoiding public transport when possible for site visits, following social distancing rules and using facemasks, gloves and hand sanitiser during each visit.
Dan Bayley, head of tenant representation at BNP Paribas Real Estate, said the government’s decision to greenlight residential viewings, and not explicitly extend this to commercial property viewings, was a key difference.
“If you’ve got a house or a flat and you decide to do a viewing and your agent is happy to do it and the counter-parties are all happy to do it… those are all individuals’ decisions,” he said. “When it is in a corporate environment, it is a corporate decision where an employee is… exposed to an element of risk by their employer as they are allowing people to look around their office space.”
Rob Madden, CBRE’s head of offices in the UK, said agents should adopt a common-sense approach on commercial property viewings, rather than waiting for specific government advice.
“If the industry was waiting for detailed guidance on how to expressly undertake viewings, and to have every single scenario outlined, I’m not sure that’s realistic,” he said. “I think there has to be a sensible and structured interpretation of the government guidelines on social distancing, and how that in turn then can be applied to commercial property.”
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