Question: Will I still be able to complete my property move or purchase during the pandemic?

Answer passage (source: UK):
page_title: Guidance Government advice on home moving during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak
section_headers: Advice to the public
5. Agreeing to move
section_content: More detail on progressing the individual elements of the home buying and
selling or rental process and how this applies to different groups is set out
in the next section.
Once you have agreed to move home by exchanging contracts or signing a tenancy
agreement, you have entered into a legal agreement to move. We encourage all
parties to be as flexible as possible over this period and be prepared to
delay moves if needed, for example if someone becomes ill with coronavirus
during the moving process or has to self-isolate. You should not expect to
move into any home where people are ill or self-isolating.

Your legal adviser should be able to help you to ensure that any contract you enter into has sufficient flexibility to allow the purchase to be delayed in the event that an individual in one of the parties contracts coronavirus or has to self-isolate.
We encourage you to be as flexible as possible if you are asked to delay your move, and in turn, you can speak to your legal advisor about this.


Reviewer feedback on this answer:
Has some information about moving during the pandemic, but says most of it is in another section.
This has a lot of detail that answers the questions related to home buy and to moving.

Reviewer ratings:
Acceptable
Excellent

Answer passage (source: UK):
page_title: Guidance Government advice on home moving during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak
section_headers: Advice to the public
What does this mean for my property move or purchase which is scheduled whilst measures to fight coronavirus apply?
section_content: More detail on progressing the individual elements of the home buying and
selling or rental process and how this applies to different groups is set out
in the next section.
People are free to move home, however the process of finding and moving into a
new home is likely to be different, as those involved in the process will need
to adapt practices and procedures to ensure that the risk of spread of
coronavirus is reduced as far as possible. It is vital that everyone stays
alert and safe.

Initial viewings should be done virtually wherever this is possible and property agents should help you to do this.
All physical viewings should be limited to members of the same household and open house viewings should not take place.
When physically viewing properties, where possible, you should avoid touching surfaces, wash your hands regularly, and bring your own hand sanitiser. The number of people on a viewing should be minimised to those from your household that absolutely have to be there. If you need to be accompanied by small children, you should try to keep them from touching surfaces and ensure they wash their hands regularly.
If people are being shown around your current home, you should open all internal doors and ensure surfaces, such as door handles, are cleaned after each viewing with standard household cleaning products.
As most people choose to, we recommend that you vacate your property whilst viewings are taking place in order to minimise your contact with those not in your household.
Anyone involved in any aspect of the home moving process should practice social distancing in line with public health advice.
When moving between properties, you and those in your household should try to do as much of the packing yourself as you can. Where this is not possible, you should speak to removal firms in advance. There is further advice about this below.
If you are particularly worried about the risk of infection, then speak to the professionals involved, your landlord, estate agent or removers as they may be able to put in place extra measures.

Everyone involved in the moving process must follow social
distancing to minimise the
spread of the virus.

Reviewer feedback on this answer:
Has detailed information about how the moving process should be carried out during the pandemic.
This has an enormous amount of detail advising what to do during the home buy and moving process.

Reviewer ratings:
Excellent
Excellent

Answer passage (source: UK):
page_title: Guidance Government advice on home moving during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak
section_headers: Advice to the public
1. Preparing to buy, sell or move home
section_content: More detail on progressing the individual elements of the home buying and
selling or rental process and how this applies to different groups is set out
in the next section.
You can put your home on the market and start to look for properties you want
to move into. If any member of the household being viewed is showing symptoms
or is self-isolating then estate agents should not physically visit the
property.

You can begin to market your home and estate agents are able to visit in order to take photos/videos of the property.
To help prevent the spread of infection, we encourage people to do the majority of their property searching online; for example only physically viewing those properties which you believe you are most likely to want to move into.
As usual, you can also start to bring together the documentation necessary to sell your property (more information on these documents is available in the government’s guidance on how to sell homes).
If you wish to buy a new build property you should make contact with the developer in the usual way. You should be able to view the show home or visit the particular plot you are interested in purchasing, although there will be appointment systems in place.


Reviewer feedback on this answer:
Has detailed information about what steps of the moving process can be carried out during the pandemic.
This answers the question directly and has a lot of details about the various aspects of home buying and selling.

Reviewer ratings:
Excellent
Excellent