Buyers and renters in England will be able to move house again from Wednesday under plans set out by the government to re-start a real estate market all but frozen by virus restrictions, UK housing minister Robert Jenrick said in a briefing on Wednesday.
While people in the middle of buying a house have been allowed to move if "reasonably necessary" during the coronavirus lockdown which began in March, property viewings were halted and estate agents' offices closed to the public.
"Today we reopen, we restart and we renew the housing market and the construction industry to protect lives, to save jobs and to begin rebuilding our economy," Jenrick said in Wednesday's (May 13) daily Government briefing on the coronavirus.
It meant, he said, anyone who was not self-isolating could move any time and for any reason.
Setting out guidelines for England, Jenrick said estate agents' offices could open, buyers and renters would be able to view properties in person, show-homes could open and conveyancers and removals firms could return to work as long as social distancing guidelines were followed.