Property firms have described how they used “good old-fashioned common sense” and direct phone conversations to work around disruption caused by Microsoft’s global outage. The disruption happened on “unlucky” Friday 13 – a date which analysis by Rightmove suggests is often shunned as a day to move home. Microsoft later said services were being “gradually restored”.
Industry Response to the Outage
Ian Harris, president at property professionals’ body NAEA (National Association of Estate Agents) Propertymark, said: “Just like many businesses, the ability to communicate efficiently is essential. When vital systems unexpectedly fail, it can cause serious and unexpected stress, particularly for those on their moving day. We now live in a world where email plays an integral role in ensuring information reaches its intended recipients. When such systems experience downtime, this has the potential to cause temporary delays in the final stages of completing a house sale.”
He said many agents, lenders and conveyancers use purpose-built online portals unaffected by the outage, although some people could experience delays while contingency communication methods were put in place.
Friday 13 and Home Moves
Analysis published by Rightmove on Friday indicates that people avoid moving on Friday 13, despite the last day of the working week being busy for home moves as people use the weekend to get settled in. It analysed Land Registry data going back to 1995 and found that Friday 13 tends to be the quietest Friday for home moves. The analysis also found that, in general, the 13th is the quietest day of the month for completions, with fewer home moves on average than on other dates.
A Rightmove spokesperson said that its website was working as usual, adding: “We’re hearing that agents are working hard over the phone to help those home movers who are completing today.”
Contingency Measures in Place
Jeremy Leaf, principal of Jeremy Leaf & Co in north London, said on Friday morning: “As a contingency, we’re advising customers to try to use telephones or even communicate by hand where possible.”
Tomer Aboody, founding director of specialist lender MT Finance, said: “We are making use of what we have, and keeping clients updated via phone calls and other means of communication. Internally as an institution, we have back-up plans for internal communications to keep the business going, without affecting the day to day too much.”
Mary Beeton, head of sales at Hamptons, said the business had “been working hard to find alternative workarounds to ensure our clients can still complete today as planned”. Ms Beeton added: “Although we have experienced some disruption, we have been able to operate largely as business as usual.” She said law firms have also been willing to “pick up the phone and work through any issues collaboratively”.
Neil Louth, group executive director, LRG and CEO, Acorn Group, said: “We acted early this morning, co-ordinating teams across sales, lettings, land, commercial, financial services, shared ownership, surveying, planning and auctions. Our priority was to minimise the impact on clients, keep everyone informed and ensure transactions and business opportunities continued to progress across every part of the business. Teams contacted clients with appointments by phone and used alternative communication channels to bring the relevant parties together and make sure everyone understood what needed to happen next. Good old-fashioned common sense, initiative and direct conversations have helped our teams work around the disruption.” He added: “Keeping customers informed and ensuring their transactions continue to progress remains our main priority.”
