GUIDANCE TO FOLLOW FOR A SAFE REOPENING IN STAGE 3
The Ontario government has announced that Windsor-Essex County will be entering Stage 3 at 12:01am Wednesday August 12th, 2020. The Province has lifted the prohibition on real estate brokerages, brokers and salespeople hosting open houses, with public health and workplace safety measures and restrictions in place.
With the option to host an open house available to you be sure to consider the following:
Are you and your client comfortable with hosting an open house?
REALTORS® should continue to use digital and virtual technology to interact with clients wherever possible and to market or show a home. We strongly encourage you to continue speaking with your clients openly about their comfort levels with allowing or conducting in-person showings and now with open houses. You should only proceed with an open house if your client has approved it as part of your overall marketing plan to sell the home. If your client would like to proceed with open houses but you, as a REALTOR®, are not comfortable hosting them, consider requesting assistance from a colleague in your brokerage who is comfortable with offering this service.
What is a practical limit on the number of people allowed through an open house?
We strongly recommend setting a limit of one group of two people (plus the buyer’s sales representative if they are attending with the buyer(s)) in an open house at any one time. In Stage 3, gathering limits for higher risk settings, including open houses, go up to 50 people indoors and 100 people outdoors. Physical distancing remains a requirement for all people who are not from the same household or social circle. However, REALTORS® should not interpret the government limit of 50 people as appropriate for open houses. It simply is not practical to expect that 50 people in a home at one time will allow for safe physical distancing protocols to be observed.
SAFE OPEN HOUSE PRACTICES
Post a clear protocol outside the residence for open house guests to follow. If possible, distribute this information electronically before the open house. At least the following should be considered in your protocol in conjunction with all relevant and applicable advice, recommendations and instructions from public health officials:
Request self-screening of COVID-19
Post signage on the property entryway door stating that if people have been ill, have symptoms of COVID-19, have come in contact with a person with symptoms or a confirmed case of COVID-19, they should not enter the home.
Set a time limit
Limit the time each group spends inside the residence to ensure all guests have the opportunity to see the home during open house hours.
Set a limit on guests
While indoor gathering limits have increased, limit the number of people in the house to one group of two people (plus the buyer’s sales representative if they are attending with the buyer(s)), to allow for physical distancing. Homeowners should not be present during the open house.
Require personal protective equipment (PPE) use
Ensure masks or face coverings are worn inside at all times. Consider providing this PPE outside the entrance of the residence. Municipalities may have by-laws regarding the use of masks where business is being conducted. Be sure to review any such by-laws in your municipality.
Manage the flow of traffic
If a line forms outside, people should be staggered at least 6 feet apart. Consider signage or markers to this effect. Have an assistant manage physical distancing outside the home and for people registering. While a showing is in progress, place a sign on the door to indicate that and ask other guests to wait in a queue or in their cars.
Sanitize hands before and after
Provide hand sanitizer at the door and require guests to disinfect before entry.
Enforce ‘no touching’ rules
Open all of the interior doors and closet doors, and turn on lights so that any open house visits can be completed without having to touch these surfaces. Bathroom use should be prohibited. The listing REALTOR® should be available to open cabinets, storage spaces, blinds, etc. An alternative is to provide gloves as people enter the home so guests can touch without risk of outside germs. If this alternative is used, all other steps outlined in this document still need to be taken out of heightened precaution.
Sanitize and disinfect surfaces
Disinfect surfaces, door handles and parts of the house that guests come in close contact with both before and after the open house.
Digital only feature sheets
Feature sheets and other promotional materials on the home should be available electronically online and accessible to guests by email, QR code or your website.
Protocols for multi-tenanted properties
For multi-tenanted properties like condominiums, discuss with the seller whether building management has any COVID-19 safety protocols to be aware of and incorporate those into your plan. Also, enlist the help of an assistant to manage entry to the building and other common areas, and to ensure physical distancing can be maintained between consumers in common areas.
PREPARATION FOR POSSIBLE CONTACT TRACING AFTER AN OPEN HOUSE
Identifying everyone who attends an open house will be even more important to assist with contact tracing if someone in attendance reports they contracted COVID-19. Provide a means of contacting all open house attendees, but be clear that any personal information collected will only be used for the purpose of notifying them of any health concerns (note that under PIPEDA personal information can only be used for the purpose you disclosed when collecting it).
Before they enter, guests should provide the listing REALTOR® with their address, phone number and/or other contact information. A good way to limit contact with REALTORS®, is to ask guests to text their name and number to a designated phone number before entering the home.
You should also ensure that, before entering the home, guests sign a declaration or verbally confirm they have no symptoms of illness (i.e. cough, fever, sore throat) and that they have not knowingly been in contact with anyone with symptoms.
Impress upon guests the importance of providing correct information for their own safety as well as others.
For additional information on Local COVID 19 updates please visit : https://www.wechu.org/cv/local-updates