Playbook, estate agency
Access questions about a property, answered before the appointment
Somebody who cannot manage stairs should not have to book a viewing, travel across town and stand at the bottom of a staircase to find out. Much of what they need is already in the listing, the floorplan or the details sheet: which floor, whether there is a lift, where the parking is. What is not there cannot be improvised, because a wrong answer about access wastes somebody's day in a way that is considerably more costly to them than to the agency.
Why this is not the general answer
The handling pattern for accessibility requests holds across every trade. What follows is the part that does not.
- The cost of a wrong answer falls on the person asking rather than on the agency, and it is measured in a wasted journey and a wasted appointment.
- Access facts are property specific rather than agency specific, so the assistant is reading a listing rather than a policy, and it should quote rather than characterise.
- Property particulars carry consumer protection duties in most markets, so an improvised description of access is a particular published in the agency's name.
- Some of these enquiries are about the viewing itself rather than the property, such as a companion attending or an accessible route into the branch, and those the agency controls and can answer confidently.
How it arrives
- is the flat accessible with a wheelchair
- which floor is it on and is there a lift
- are there steps up to the front door
- is there parking close to the entrance
- is the bathroom on the same floor as the bedroom
- can i bring someone with me to the viewing
What has to be indexed for this to work
| The listing, floorplan and details sheet you maintain | Floor level, lift, room layout, and the measurements a floorplan already carries. The assistant should point at and quote the source rather than paraphrase it, since these are particulars the agency answers for. |
|---|---|
| Access detail you record on your own properties | Steps to the entrance, threshold, door widths where known, parking arrangements, and whether a communal entrance has a lift or a ramp. Where you do not hold it, saying so is the correct answer rather than an omission. |
| What you can arrange at a viewing | Whether a companion or a support worker may attend, whether extra time can be allowed, whether a video walkthrough is possible, and how to request any of it. This is entirely within the agency's control and worth stating plainly. |
| Branch access, for anybody coming in | Step free entry, parking, hearing loop if you have one, and whether an appointment can be taken elsewhere. Applicants ask this less often than they should, and it costs nothing to publish. |
The reply
The listing shows it as a second floor flat and the floorplan does not record a lift in the building, so I would not want you to travel on the assumption there is one. I do not hold detail on the steps at the entrance or the door widths, and rather than guess I can have a negotiator check before you come out. You are very welcome to bring somebody with you to the viewing and we can allow extra time. Leave your name and email and we will confirm the access details first.
It gives what the listing actually records and attributes it, so the applicant knows how solid the information is. Saying plainly that it does not hold the rest is more useful than a hedge, because the alternative is a wasted journey. Offering the companion and the extra time answers the part the agency genuinely controls, which keeps the reply from being all limitations.
Where it stops
The trigger. The visitor needs an access fact the listing does not record, or asks for an adjustment to the viewing itself.
I do not want to guess at access details, because it is your journey that is wasted if I get it wrong. Leave your name, email and the property and a negotiator will check and come back to you before anything is arranged.
It stops answering before it guesses, says who will pick it up, and asks for the one thing that makes a reply possible. Nothing about it reads as a dead end.
Never say this here
Out of bounds
- Never state an access detail that is not recorded in the listing or floorplan.
- Never describe a property as accessible, or as suitable for a particular need.
- Never estimate a step, a threshold or a doorway measurement.
- Never suggest somebody comes to a viewing to find out whether the property works for them.
Questions
- Is it safe to answer access questions at all?
- It is safe to quote what the listing and floorplan record, with the source attached, which is what the citations on every answer are for. What is not safe is characterising a property as accessible, because that is a judgement about somebody's needs rather than a fact about the building.
- We do not record access detail. Should we?
- It is worth adding the few facts that decide most journeys: floor, lift, steps at the entrance and parking. They cost nothing to capture at the point of listing and they save an applicant a wasted trip and your negotiator a wasted appointment.
- What about the viewing itself?
- That is the part you control and the part worth being generous about. Publish that a companion may attend, that extra time can be allowed and that adjustments can be requested, and the assistant can offer it without asking anyone.
Keep reading
- Everything for a estate agencyViewings, fees, referencing and deposit rules are answerable at any hour. Valuing a property or discussing an offer is not.
- Handling accessibility requests in generalTwo different things arrive as one message. A published accessibility statement answers the first. The second is a request, and it needs a person.
- What happens when somebody types their own addressThe moment an address appears, the answer belongs to a valuer. Handover here is a routing problem across four audiences and one widget.
- The fee is a percentage of a number that does not exist yetCommission is a percentage of a price nobody has set yet, so the fee only becomes a sum after a valuer has stood in the hall.
- Two customers, one procedure, and the stage after the agencyA tenant complains about a landlord's property, a seller about the agency itself. One written procedure, and a stage that sits outside it.
Try it on your own material
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