Throughout the Covid-19 crisis we have continued working - taking on new properties, doing viewings, moving tenants in, all with social distancing. This has been wonderful for us to help people with few options left, both for landlords whose properties might otherwise have remained empty for several more months and for tenants given notice before the world changed due to landlords selling for example. We have also watched helplessly, like most of you, as some of our friends and family struggled to adapt to the "new normal" - we've done zoom calls, mental health check-ins, food shopped for those wo couldn't leave the house and helped out where we could but nonetheless, this has been a time for most of the country with much sadness and little good news.
However, the one aspect of the pandemic which has been a pleasure for us to see is the number of landlords who have offered properties for key workers to live in either at cost or rent-free. The key workers have been in all manner of different personal circumstances, from dockyard workers to NHS staff brought in from other cities to help cover staff shortages, to locals forced to choose between moving out of their family homes due to sharing with high risk individuals, or giving up their jobs as nurses/carers etc.
Landlords have adhered to the highest standards of cleanliness, social-distancing requirements and often made large adaptations at short notice to accommodate late arrivals, additional challenges etc.
Thank you to all those of you who have stepped up and helped where you can. Thank you also, of course, to the NHS, carers, emergency services, dockyard workers, shop workers, delivery drivers etc who've kept us all going.
For any other landlords who think they may be able to help, please contact us to find out how to get involved.