The 12 days of a lettings Christmas
Slow down and unwind this festive season? Not necessarily true if you work in the private rental sector. From unique problems to round-the-clock care, we take an irreverent look at how Viewber can support letting agents, property managers and landlords this Christmas.
12 pipes a-bursting: one of the most common winter insurance claims involves water damage where a pipe has frozen solid, burst open and discharged water. If you have vacant lets, the risk of undetected water damage increases. Book a Viewber to check on a property and while there, they can turn the central heating on to low and turn off the water from the stopcock.
11 boilers breaking: if your emergency maintenance phone rings, it’ll be no surprise to hear a tenant reporting a broken boiler at the other end. You may spend hours securing the services of a Gas Safe registered engineer so don’t waste further time having to let them in. Send a Viewber to oversee the repair instead.
10 staff a-sneezing: from bona fide Covid to the common cold, teams can be depleted overnight, leaving you short staffed and stressfully stretched. Lean on Viewber when colleagues call in sick – we can accompany viewings, undertake property inspections and perform key handovers while they recover.
9 brand-new listings: landlords won’t care if it’s the day before Christmas – if they have a property to let, they’ll want it photographed, written up and online as soon as possible. If you’re pressed for time, send a Viewber to capture all the assets you need. They can take photos, produce floorplans, create 360° tours and film video footage on your behalf.
8 days a-snowing: while many of us dream of a white Christmas, even the lightest dusting of snow causes travel chaos in the UK, leaving staff stranded in unhelpful places or stuck at home dealing with school closures. If your team is depleted, turn to us. As we run a local network, our Viewbers can often walk to a property and turn a snow day into a successful day.
7 staff a-swanning… off: the festive season is full of plans and with more freedom this year, annual leave requests may come in thick and fast. Whether employees want a week away to grab some winter sun or a single day to start their Christmas shopping, be the best boss and grant them time off. A Viewber can step in and take on their tasks, no problem.
6 keys a-handling: a large part of what we do for letting agents involves keys. From collecting keys from an office and travelling to a property to let contractors in to holding keys for repeat viewings and installing key safes, we’re on hand during December.
5 pings and rings: we all know the feeling. It’s gone 5:30pm, and there’s a mince pie and a glass of mulled somewhere with our name on it. Suddenly the email and ‘phones go crazy. If there’s a deluge of late-day viewing requests and you know the diary is already full to the brim, don’t say no to them. Say yes knowing you can quickly book a Viewber using our simple dashboard.
4 vacant homes: whether you have long-term empty properties or manage student lets where the tenants return home for the holiday season, a walk-by property visit or a quick internal inspection will pick up small niggles before they spiral into larger problems. Book an appointment with us right up to and including Christmas Eve.
3 weekends: there are just three full weekends in December before Christmas Day and your staff probably don’t want to work every single one of them. If your lettings business shows no sign of slowing down before the big day, open an account with Viewber to cover weekend property visits and accompanied viewings.
2 Bank Holidays: this year Christmas Day and Boxing Day fall over the weekend, creating two Bank Holidays on Monday 27th and Tuesday 28th December. Don’t let the timing catch you out! We have Viewbers working right over the festive period so if you need to visit properties and conduct viewings when you’ve given staff time off, give us a shout.
And a merry Christmas from us!
Don’t forget, call on Viewber this December.
