Moving in Safely – Summer 2020

Moving in to your new home is exciting, we also need to make sure it is as safe as possible whilst we’re all dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.

This blog covers everything we’re doing to make sure your move in is safe and as smooth as possible.

Summary

Book an appointment

Collect all the keys (one person per household will be given all keys to distribute to the group)

Come alone (please ask your friends/housemates to wait outside)

Bring valid photographic ID

Make sure everyone in your group has set up their direct debits (DD’s for properties managed by Purple Frog, or standing orders for those managed by your landlord), otherwise we won’t be able to hand out any keys.

If parents/friends are helping you move in at the same time as your housemates, we have PPE available in our offices they can use to help reduce the risk.

What you need to do

Book an appointment

To minimise the number of people who are in our offices at any one time we’re operating an appointment system for collecting your keys. The appointment are 10-15 minute slots so we can reduce queues where possible.

Please do not arrive early or late, you will only be allowed to access the office at the time of your appointment.

If you miss your appointment, you’ll need to call the office to schedule another.

Please talk to your housemates before booking your appointment to avoid double booking.

Birmingham – Book an Appointment

Bristol – Book an Appointment

Nottingham – Book an Appointment

Bristol Street: Please call the team on: 0121 622 6202

If you do not book an appointment, you will not be able to collect your keys.

Collect all keys

To reduce the number of people needing to access our office we are asking that one person from each tenancy collects the keys for all tenants; it will then be your responsibility to distribute the keys amongst yourselves.

Come alone

Just like at the shops, we ask you to come in alone to aid in social distancing. That means no housemates, friends, parents,  or dogs…. actually,  dogs are OK, we love dogs. 🙂

Bring ID

We need to know we’re giving keys to the right person, so please bring photographic ID, ideally passport or driving licence.

Set up your direct debits/standing order

Landlords like to know they are going to receive rent before they/we give out keys for their properties.

For properties managed by Purple Frog you ALL need to have set up your direct debits before any keys are collected. If you’ve not had an email about setting up your DD, please call our Ops team on 0121 227 4188 or email ops@purplefrogproperty.com.

If your landlord is managing your property, you all  need to have set up a standing order using the bank details on the tenancy agreement before we can provide keys. We may ask to see evidence of this before handing over keys.

Friends and family

We understand that moving house is hard work and you’ll probably ask family and friends to help you move, but, the more people in your property at the same time, the greater the risk of exposure to Covid-19 is to everyone. Those of your moving in together will be forming a new household so don’t need to socially distance, but those helping you move are from different households, so we suggest the following:

• Try to stagger when your family and friends help you move so it’s easier to socially distance.
• Use the PPE (gloves and masks), available in our branches for those people not in your household who are helping you to move.

What we’re doing to keep you safe

In these Covid-19 times, we know that feeling of going to the shops and using a trolley that someone else has just used, you need to make sure it’s clean. We understand that you will want to make sure your home is safe and clean to move into too.

Research published by the University of Birmingham found the longest Covid-19 survived on surfaces was 72 hours, so where possible we have tried to ensure properties are left empty for three days between tenants moving out and new tenants moving in.

Where that has not been possible we are using disinfecting ‘fogging’ devices to disinfect properties, or where this is not possible due to the number of properties being turned around, good old fashion elbow grease (and the right cleaning products!),  from our cleaners who will disinfect the whole property before you arrive.