Recommendations for real estate visits during de-escalation
Real estate activity is reactivated with the de-escalation of the containment measures of COVID-19. Many agencies have already reopened from phase zero, following office security measures. And now comes the turn for real estate visits, although only for those areas that have already passed to phase 1.
Real estate visits in phase 1
“Neither the Health order nor the Government’s de-escalation plan have specifically regulated visits to buildings; they do not give the possibility but neither do they reject it ”, affirms Jaime Cabrero García, Treasurer of the General Council of the Official Colleges of Real Estate Agents. “By analogy, we interpret that they can be carried out from phase 1: if we can go to visit friends or relatives at their homes, we can also visit a building with adequate health and safety measures.”
This interpretation, however, is not firm: “We cannot affirm it with certainty, because right now it is a legal loophole, the Government has not explained it. We leave it up to professionals to decide how to proceed in each case: visiting an empty chalet is not the same as visiting a high floor in a building with many neighbors, ”adds Jaime Cabrero.
Health and safety measures
Beyond the variety of cases with which each professional can be found, from the Official College and the Association of Real Estate Agencies and Agents of Madrid (COAPI Madrid – AIM) have elaborated a protocol of recommended action to carry out visits to real estate to as from the authorization to proceed to phase 1, provided that visits to buildings are allowed. The recommendations – some of them mandatory – have been structured according to what must be done before, during or after visiting a home.
Before the visit
-Establish a maximum number of people per visit, taking into account the surface of the property to be visited and the minimum safety distance between people to be respected of at least 2 meters.
-Spacing the visiting hours to ensure that there are no concentrations of people.
-Do not make open door visits to the buildings.
-Incorporate to the visit sheet a point that clearly indicates that during the visit the safety measures recommended by the competent authorities have been complied with (use of a mask, gloves and hydro-alcoholic gel).
-Inform clients in advance of the rules they must follow during the visit.
-Confirm before the visit that neither the agent, the visitor, the owner, nor other people who occupy the property, have symptoms of the disease or are quarantined due to proximity with other infected people.
-Taking the temperature before leaving for the visit, both the client and the agent.
Protective material during the visit
-Protective mask for the commercial and customers (mandatory).
-Hand sanitizing product that the commercial must carry (mandatory).
-Disposable gloves for the commercial and customers (recommended).
-Disposable bootees for the commercial and customers (recommended).
Security measures during the visit
-Avoid greetings and any type of physical contact.
-If the client is not well or has symptoms compatible with coronavirus, cancel the visit.
-Cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing with disposable tissues or with your elbow flexed.
-During the visit it will be mandatory to wear a mask and gloves. In case of refusal by the client, the visit must be suspended.
-The security distance of at least 2 meters must be maintained between people during the entire visit, and only the visitor, the agent or commercial and, where appropriate, the owner, may be present.
-Limit to the maximum to touch surfaces or furniture and other elements susceptible to manipulation.
-Preferably use the stairs instead of the elevators. If the elevator is used, it can only be occupied by one person on each trip.
-Do not visit community areas.
-Reduce the time of the visit to the minimum and strictly necessary.
After the visit
-Wash your hands properly with soap and water.
-Make use of hydroalcoholic gel.
It should also be borne in mind that these measures may undergo changes and are subject to the modifications that are necessary to incorporate the specifications that may be established by the Ministry of Health and the rest of official organisms.
