By David Garness, Managing Director
It is now more than five weeks since the UK went into lockdown.
That is five weeks since the majority of manufacturers, retailers, restaurants, bars and leisure operators closed their doors to slow the spread of Covid-19.
Without doubt it has been the biggest challenge many businesses have ever faced. Money has stopped coming in, but for many the overheads and invoices haven’t.
We at Garness Jones have been affected too.
A substantial source of income is through our work in commercial property transactions, which for obvious reasons has ground to an almost complete halt (although some deals have been completed and larger developments and investment sites continue to attract interest).
However, over the past five weeks, our team of property management specialists have actually been busier than ever.
Businesses have needed our expertise and knowledge, and have needed us on hand to help them through unprecedented times. I have to say I am hugely proud of the job we have done in doing just that.
We pride ourselves at Garness Jones on providing reliable and consistent support to our clients.
Over the past five weeks, I feel we have actually stepped up and offered more to many that we serve, working in a vastly different way, remotely from our homes.
Our senior people are still working full-time and have been available to the thousands of landlords and tenants we represent across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.
Landlords have turned to us worried about their income, whilst tenants have been in need of advice with regards to what help there is for them, and whether they can seek any payment deferrals.
We’ve effectively been working flat out as brokers and go-betweens to help negotiate and find a middle ground.
Our teams have also been providing advice on the many new Government business support packages which have been made available, which I must say have covered the vast majority of current scenarios.
All has been done to help everybody collectively find a way through these times.
Our approach has been simple from the start – to deal with each and every case individually, understand the circumstances for both sides and adopt a common sense approach.
I have been pleasantly surprised with the way people have gone about business.
They have acted responsibly and sensibly – even in times which have seemed like a crisis.
If you had asked me when we went into lockdown last month what positon we’d be in now, I would have predicted many a dispute between landlords and tenants over rents and money owed.
It certainly has not developed like that though. I think that is down to businesses and individuals who have collectively been responsible and sensible, and have of course appreciated the bigger picture.
It is also without doubt a reflection on the superb support our team has provided.
One example was a large business we support which was forced to shut its doors and cease trading with immediate effect. It now has no money coming in and significant overheads.
Thankfully we’ve been able to negotiate a position where it is no longer paying a quarter’s rent up front, but is doing so monthly.
That has given this business the time it so badly needs.
The bigger picture is that the wider business community needs that company supporting jobs and the economy when things return to normal, so finding a solution to help was so, so important.
I’ve also been impressed at how businesses which do have the cash flow have continued to pay their invoices and bills. They are supporting others through this.
We are of course far from out of the woods. Indeed we are perhaps now at their deepest point.
Many of the agreements we have managed to negotiate have of course been short term to see people through the current times. If we get another month down the line and we are still seeing businesses unable to trade, many will face further significant challenges.
From my experience of the past five weeks, it is a challenge I know business will do all to rise to, and one our team will again stand at the side of businesses who have supported our success and growth in recent years.
