What does Canberra's lockdown mean for renters, buyers and sellers?

The ACT’s lockdown 2.0 came down hard and heavy, resulting in Canberrans (or Ken Behrens as the subtitles from a press conference wrongly interpreted) only having a short window of time to mentally and physically prepare themselves to stay at home full-time.

The stay-at-home orders saw Canberra’s real estate market almost completely shut down, which put a bump in the road of many who were in the middle of selling their homes, buying a property or looking to lease elsewhere.

After lengthy discussions, the ACT government and the Canberra real estate lobby group, Real Estate Institute of the ACT, have come out with new guidelines defining what real estate essential services are allowed to take place.

Under the initial lockdown measures, real estate agents were restricted from undertaking any on-site inspections and on-site auctions. 

Under the revised measures, photography will be permitted but only for one agency staff member for the purpose of updating any existing listings that are already for sale or available to rent online and that do not already have virtual or video tours available.

This means tenants and buyers, or those who are just browsing the Allhomes website, who want to inspect a property will be able to do so on the online listing itself. 

Those who were hoping to sell their property in the next few weeks or lease out an investment property will have to wait until further restrictions ease.

When the ACT government announced the lockdown, many real estate agents pivoted their on-site auctions to online methods, which were hosted at the auctioneer’s residence – or, as a last resort, at the agency’s office with only one staff member present.

The revised measures will allow agents and auctioneers to host virtual auctions from the agency premises with a maximum of three staff members, including the auctioneer.

The updated lockdown measures will also allow contracts to be signed in-person if necessary, as long as all parties maintain a 1.5-metre distance from each other.

Other measures that are permitted for the real estate industry include conducting pre-exchange inspections, valuation inspections and pre-settlement inspections.

If the property is occupied at the time of inspection, permission needs to be sought from the people living in it. If the tenants do not give approval, REIACT is to be contacted for further direction.

For property managers dealing with end-of-lease contracts, a professional cleaning service provider is allowed to clean the property.

“I implore you to follow these restrictions and do not put in jeopardy the potential for further easing of restrictions for our industry in the coming weeks,” a spokesperson from REIACT said.

Agents and agencies in breach of the guidelines will face a $1000 penalty for an individual and an $8000 penalty for a company.