Re: Important update concerning Covid-19 and our working practices.
Following the advice from the Government concerning the Covid-19 pandemic, I have made the decision today that as of Monday 23rd March 2020, the office will be closed to clients and the general public. My team will be working remotely until we are advised otherwise. I have had to implement some changes to ensure continuity of the service you have become accustomed to. As this is unchartered territory, changes may have to be made as the situation unfolds over the next few weeks & months ahead.
You should still call us on 023 9273 5863 and you will be given a series of choices, but please be aware in most cases, your call will be diverted to a colleague’s mobile. We are all available on email:
louise.hopkins@belvoir.co.uk (Repairs/maintenance, move outs & deposit returns)
Sally.pattenden@belvoir.co.uk (General enquiries, new business, Sales & lettings)
joseph.salvia@belvoir.co.uk (Property sales, Letting enquiries, general queries)
helen.bennett@belvoir.co.uk (Tenancy finance & payments, complex queries, service of notices etc)
Yvonne.hopkins@belvoir.co.uk (Tenancy renewals, Rent increases, Utility bill queries)
Any urgent queries that you have outside of office hours can be emailed through to me personally on: samantha.bateman@belvoir.co.uk
Maintenance – if things go wrong
We politely ask that you are patient and ask for your understanding as we are working in unprecedented conditions and the availability of contractors may be minimal if they become ill & have to self -isolate. You may become ill and the Contractor may not want to enter your home, or you may not feel comfortable with our contractor coming into your home.
In short, we want to prepare you for there to be delays, in some cases, even jobs that are urgent may not be attended to as quickly as we would hope or normally expect. We will do our utmost to get the jobs you are reporting attended to as quickly as possible but there are going to be inevitable delays due to circumstances out of our hands.
Minor issues will not be dealt with as a matter or priority
We have Fixflow, a system we have invested into to enable you to report maintenance issues, it also comes with helpful information and video tutorials so you can self help in some cases and get the job completed yourself.
To access this system please use this link https://belvoir-portsmouth.fixflo.com/
If you smell gas & suspect you have a leak you should call the gas emergency service on 0800 111999
If we need to carry out a viewing
If you are living in a rented property that you are shortly moving out of ( and we are advertising it) we will be making arrangements to visit to complete a video tour so we can allow potential new Tenants to view without going into your home. We ask that you allow us to do this whilst you are not in the property or you stay in a different room whilst we are filming; It will take no more than 20 minutes for us to complete.
Mid tenancy inspections & moving out inspections.
Mid tenancy inspections have been postponed for the next few weeks until we have clearer guidelines. Yvonne or Louise will be in contact to rearrange these with you in due course. If you have any issues you were hoping to report at your inspection, please report these on the FIXFLO system.
If you are moving out soon, we will visit the property to complete the final inspection, but we respectfully ask that you are not present at the property whilst my member of staff is completing the inspection.
Rent payments
We expect you to pay your rent as normal, but we are also prepared for some Tenants to ask for time to pay as a result of Covid-19. This could be as a result of being laid off at work as many companies are and will continue to make cutbacks in this challenging climate. If you do find yourself in a position where you are unable to pay due to Covid-19, you must contact us immediately so we can discuss this with your landlord and work together to put a plan into place.
Please remember that your rent is a priority payment and we do not recommend that you miss payments as it could result in you losing your home if you make false claims of hardship.
I am adapting our way of working to ensure the safety of my team, their families and for the safety of you and your families and that of our contractors who have become part of our working family.
Business will continue as normally as it can in these unprecedented times, and I would like to thank you in advance for your understanding.
With best wishes
Samantha Bateman
Managing Director
