New Government Announcement on Easing Lockdown

The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Robert Jenrick MP, spoke to the House of Commons yesterday to announce the government plan to reopen the housing market and construction industry.

The key announcements related to the housing market were that as of Tuesday 13th May 2020:

• People are now able to move home whenever they wish
• Estate and lettings agents can conduct physical viewings (estate agents offices and show homes can reopen)
• All journeys related to moving home are considered ‘necessary journeys’ (although the government is encouraging virtual viewings where possible)
• Moving companies can operate again

In addition, a series of measures related to construction were also announced including:

• Builders will be allowed to agree more flexible construction site working hours with their local council, such as staggering builder’s arrival times in order to ease pressure on public transport.
• Local councils and developers will be allowed to publicise planning applications via social media instead of having to rely on printed posters and leaflets.
• Smaller developers will be allowed to defer payments to local councils in order to help those struggling with their cash flow still receive funding to enable the longer term growth of local infrastructure.

The government also announced a new Charter for Safe Working Practice with the Home Builders Federation to help ensure that homebuilding is allowed to continually safely. Housebuilders are asked to sign up to the Charter and commit to a number of safety measures on their sites including: 

• Only undertaking operations they know can be carried out safely, establishing safe access to site and safe shared facilities on site.
• Giving all site visitors a safety induction to ensure they fully understand the measures in place on the site to protect them and others
• Ensuring measures are in place to enable anyone on site to abide by social distancing guidance and taking mitigating action to reduce the risk of transmission where not possible

The government has said that guidance from Public Health England must continue to be followed and anyone who has been advised to self-isolate should do so and not move home. The existing advice about social distancing on site continues to apply.