Sims Williams is “Open for Business” – with safety in mind
From Monday 18th May, our offices in Chichester, Arundel and Walberton will re-open and our team is ready, willing and eager to kickstart the local property market.
Safety is our top priority
Protecting our staff and customers from the risks of Coronavirus is our top priority and it means we’ll be doing some things differently to keep us all safe. Obviously, you can still expect the same great professional service and unbeatable local knowledge. We are following Government guidance and you can read the Government advice on moving home during this time.
Here are the new measures we are putting in place for buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants.
Our offices
By Appointment Only
To ensure we can maintain social distancing guidelines, please make an appointment before you visit any of our offices. Please ring or email your nearest office to make an appointment – we will not be allowing unplanned walk-in visits.
Opening Hours
Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm
Saturday 10am to 1pm
We are closed on Sundays and Bank Holidays.
You can find contact details for all our offices at the bottom of this article.
Before making an appointment, we will ask: –
- Are you or anyone in your household in the “At Risk” category?
- Do you or anyone in your household have any symptoms of coronavirus?
- Have you or anyone in your household previously tested positive for Coronavirus or have since recovered?
If you answer “Yes’ to any of the questions, we may ask you to deal with us remotely until the risk of infection and illness reduces.
Visiting our offices
We will clean all surfaces, including door handles after each visitor and you will be asked to use a hand sanitiser when you arrive. We will try and restrict the amount of paperwork we handle and will email you documents and property details following your visit where possible.
Please bring your own pen if you need to sign anything.
Arranging Viewings
We are increasing the number of virtual tours and videos of properties for sale and will encourage you to start by viewing these.
If you are keen on a property and want to arrange a viewing, please contact us to make an appointment.
We will still accompany buyers on viewings and will aim to keep a minimum of two metres apart at all times.
Where this may not be possible due to the size of the property, our team will wear protective face masks and gloves to protect homeowners and potential buyers during viewings.
Please note that a maximum of two people can view a property at the same time and young children will not be allowed to attend viewings.
We will do our best to arrange viewings outside our opening hours if this can be done safely.
Advice for homeowners and sellers
Before each viewing, please wipe down all surfaces and door handles with a suitable sanitiser.
If possible, please provide hand-washing facilities, soap and single use hand towels for viewers to use on arrival.
We will bring our own sanitiser and will ask viewers to sanitise their hands before entering your property and to refrain from touching surfaces and door handles.
Homeowners will be asked to leave all the doors open inside and to go into the garden or for a short walk while the viewing is taking place. If you are unable to leave the property, we will ask you to keep 2 metres away from the potential buyer and our property consultant during the viewing.
If you have given us a set of keys to conduct viewings, we will sanitise these after each viewing.
After each viewing, we recommend you again wipe down all surfaces with a sanitising product.
Completion Days
We know everyone is keen to act quickly when a sale has been agreed and everything is in place to arrange completion.
Please accept that there could be unexpected delays if anyone in the chain falls ill or becomes vulnerable to the Coronavirus.
We will maintain communication with everyone in the chain throughout the sale to avoid delays and keep all parties well-informed.
Let’s get moving
We know things will be strange for a while, but we are confident we can get back to selling houses and keep our clients and staff at the same time.
We have lots of sellers ready to move and we will progress exchanged properties through to completion as quickly as possible.
If you are considering selling your property, we can help you to create a video walk around so that we can provide a free, no obligation market valuation to get you started.
Contact your nearest Sims Williams office for details.
Contact Details
Sims Williams Sales
Chichestersales@simswilliams.co.uk 01243 787868
Arundelsales@simswilliams.co.uk 01903 881133
Walbertonsales@simswilliams.co.uk 01243 551368
Property Management and Lettings
Chichesterlettings@simswilliams.co.uk 01243 836055
Arundellettings@simswilliams.co.uk 01903 881133