We have attached a few suggestions which you may find useful and which may help make visits to a property as safe as possible as the estate agency industry moves towards life after lockdown. This is not an exhaustive list, but is a summary of tips we have found. As always, ensure as a priority, that you follow the legal guidelines set out by the French government and that you exercise caution and common sense throughout. Both buyers and sellers should, in the first instance, satisfy themselves that they are able to take part in the visit. Consider your age, underlying health problems and how well you are on the day of the visit. If in doubt you could always ask a third party to undertake the visit on your behalf. If the risk is simply too great - postpone the visit. Suggestions for sellers:Ensure that you give a buyer as much advance information about your property as you can - the last thing you want is for someone to turn up and wander through your house when it is very obviously not what they are looking for. Use photographs, Google maps, telephone conversations and virtual visits via smartphone, tablet or an app such as Zoom or Facetime to ensure that neither you nor your viewer are at risk unnecessarily.Plan the route of the visit. In what order will you show people each room? How will you navigate corridors and staircases? Will you go into each room yourself or will you stand outside smaller rooms and watch your buyer as they look around inside it on their own?The less people involved in a visit the better. I would recommend that you insist that no more than two visitors take part in the viewing - and preferably only one of them plus either you or your representative. The virus is spread more easily indoors so the less people there are in the house during the visit the better.Contact your buyer before their visit to explain how you require the visit to be conducted. If you like, you could send them our suggestions for buyers, outlined below.Ask people to ring you when they arrive at your property so that you can be sure you are ready to receive them.Before the visit starts open as many doors and windows as possible. By maximising a stream of fresh air throughout your property you will dilute the concentration of any virus in the air and so minimise the risk of inhaling it. Leave the windows and doors open for as long as possible after the visit has ended.Please ask everyone to wear a mask for the duration of the visit and to sanitise their hands as soon as they have got out of their cars. They should sanitise them again before getting back into the car at the end of the visit. If they follow this practice they are less likely to spread the virus from one property to another.You should also wear a mask during the visit. Avoid touching your face and practice social distancing. This means remain two metres away from your buyer and not standing face to face with one another. The virus is expelled from the mouth or nose of one person and is either inhaled by another, or, when it lands it can be spread by touch. Similarly, if you have the virus, every time you touch your mouth, eyes or nose you will collect the virus on your fingers - or, if you don't have the virus you can introduce it to your own respiratory tract from somewhere else.Ensure that your visitors touch nothing during the visit - the most notable things being door handles. Open the front door when they have phoned to tell you they have arrived. They should not have to knock on it. Ask them not to open any doors themselves. You should not make your buyer a cup of coffee or allow them to use your WC.Do not exchange bits of paper. Information can be e-mailed or given to you verbally for you to write down. They can also download the brochure about your property from your page on our website.Keep the visit as short as possible.Suggestions for buyers:Only visit properties you are seriously interested in. Use photographs, Google maps, telephone conversations and virtual visits via smartphone, tablet or an app such as Zoom to ensure that neither you nor the homeowner is at risk unnecessarily. If viewing with an agent, do not be persuaded to visit the infamous "wildcard property" - now is not the time for that sort of gesture. Every unnecessary visit puts you or the property owner at unnecessary risk.Wear a mask, carry hand sanitiser and make sure you do not have to answer the call of nature while viewing a property.Do not share a car with anyone other than someone you live with or who is already inside your social bubble.If at all possible only one person should view a property. Every extra person present multiplies the risk of transmission of the virus.Ring the property owner when you arrive at the property. Get out of the car, put on your mask and sanitise your hands then wait to be admitted. Do not knock at the door.As you go round the property touch nothing (note door handles in particular) and do not exchange any paperwork with the property owner (or any third party if you are accompanied by an agent).Maintain social distancing throughout - stay two metres apart and do not stand face to face with anyone. The virus is expelled from the mouth or nose of one person and is either inhaled by another, or, when it lands it can be spread by touch. Similarly, if you have the virus, every time you touch your mouth, eyes or nose you will collect the virus on your fingers - or, if you don't have the virus you can introduce it to your own respiratory tract from somewhere else.Keep the visit as short as possible. If the property is not for you, then say so and end the visit there and then.When you leave the property, sanitise your hands again as you get back into the car. This minimises the risk of you carrying the virus from one place to another. Everything we do in life comes with a risk and all we can ever do is mitigate that risk to the best of our abilities by understanding the risk we are facing and acting as intelligently as we can to counteract it.We do not mean to put you off ever visiting another property again - or ever letting another stranger across your threshold. We will all have to learn to live with this virus if we are to continue with our day to day lives and adapt our behaviour patterns accordingly. We hope these suggestions will help you to buy or sell your property with confidence this year. If you have any other tips to add to our suggestions, please let us know. French Properties DirectUpdated 13.5.2020
