As a residential property lawyer who has always lived and worked in the Midsomer Norton area, Rebecca Robinson knows her local residential property market inside out. That personal knowledge has been gained whilst working as a key member of the conveyancing team at local solicitors Thatcher + Hallam LLP.

For much of the lockdown period, Rebecca has been working from home. Her husband is a designated key worker so what it has meant for Rebecca is that she has had to share her work responsibilities with looking after and home-schooling her two children, aged 6 and 3.

'The last 10 weeks has certainly been an interesting experience,' says Rebecca. 'We are extremely fortunate to have a garden, which has made a big difference. The school has given a scheduled timetable of work for my eldest Seth to get on with and both children have been really great, understanding that I also need to work as well. As a working parent, I have very much valued this quality time that I have had at home with my children.'

Since the beginning of lockdown, Thatcher + Hallam has remained open and Rebecca has been busy throughout.

'Not only have there been existing matters that both my colleagues and myself have been able to continue to work on, but there has also been a good number of new instructions come in, and this was before the estate agents were allowed to open their doors to the public again,' adds Rebecca. 'During lockdown, everyone has really pulled together, from estate agents and lenders to of course our own clients.'

'What has made the working from home experience so straightforward has been the quality of the IT and communications systems that we work with,' explains Rebecca. 'Without this technology, working from home would have been extremely challenging. As it is however, clients have been impressed that although I now speak with them from my new office in the dining room, the quality of service remains unchanged.'

What does Rebecca think about the announcement from the government a couple of weeks ago that the estate agents were allowed to re-open to the public?

'Everything rightly depends on public health, safety and well-being, but it is certainly a move in the right direction,' says Rebecca. 'Like many others in the property sector, I am cautiously optimistic. Yes, we now have fresh instructions coming in, but with likely new lending criteria and a backlog of valuations I do not think that anyone is expecting the situation to immediately revert back to what it was pre-lockdown. It will take time to do this. At the end of the day however, for a multitude of reasons people still need to move house and my colleagues and myself look forward to helping them do so.'

For more details on Rebecca and her colleagues at Thatcher + Hallam and how they work for their clients moving house during the coronavirus check out here: the Thatcher + Hallam website