Dilapidations Surveys in Liverpool and Cheshire
Our experienced RICS surveyors regularly support our landlord and tenant clients with dilapidations matters. We provide expert Schedules, professional advice and dispute resolution support both during lease terms and when leases come to an end.
Our RICS building surveyors have years of experience over hundreds of dilapidations cases, ensuring that whether you are the landlord or the tenant, your case is presented robustly and defended properly.
Allcott’s building surveyors work closely with the general practice surveying team, combining their expert knowledge of building pathology and the Dilapidations Protocol to provide exceptional professional advice.
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Dilapidations Survey for the tenant of a retail property
Liverpool
- Our Liverpool-based client was served a schedule of dilapidations listing works amounting to £23K.
- We reviewed the lease and licence documents, inspected the retail property and prepared a Scott Schedule, providing an item-by-item response to the landlord’s claims.
- Our assessment found a substantially reduced value of works was required, amounting to £9.5K; a £13.5K saving.
- The discrepancy in estimated costs mainly arose by our surveyor identifying numerous items of work that could be rectified by a single main contractor, significantly reducing the cost of works by taking advantage of economies of scale and reducing call-out fees.
- For example, works such as stripping out partitioning, removing shelving, removing air conditioning units, and then making good, had all been costed separately by the landlord, but could be achieved much more cost-effectively by combining them into one work schedule by one contractor.
- Our surveyor also disputed other items. For example, the landlord had requested the removal of light fittings; however, lighting would always be necessary for that area of the property and there was no evidence of disrepair. We therefore proposed that this claim was unsubstantiated.
Schedule of Dilapidations for the landlord of a dental practice
Cheshire
- To prepare a robust Schedule of Dilapidations, we started by reviewing the lease, before visiting the property and making a thorough photographic record of the breaches of the lease by the tenant.
- Our surveyor prepared a Schedule of Dilapidations, listing breaches item-by-item and providing estimates for the costs of proposed works.
- This was then used to serve a Quantified Demand on the tenants.
- The works and estimated costs included in the schedule were split into four categories.
- Repair. In this case, this included damaged items, such as floor coverings and walls and ceilings that have been subject to water damage.
- Reinstatement. This included items such as removing tenant-installed fittings like sinks and worktops.
- Redecoration. This was relevant to any areas that had been soiled or scuffed.
- Statute. This comprised statutory requireemnts, such as requesting the tenant’s service records for fire alarm systems.
Interim Dilapidations response for a tenant in Cheshire
Cheshire
- This was a great example of our building surveyors combining their knowledge of building defects and pathology with our general practice surveyors’ knowledge of Section 18 valuations. Our surveying teams worked closely together to provide exceptional professional advice to our client.
- Our client was a tenant running a restaurant business in Cheshire.
- Their landlord had provided an Interim Schedule of Dilapidations; we were asked to review it and provide a response on behalf of the tenant.
- The Interim Schedule of Dilapidations had been conducted following a mid-term inspection by the landlord, at which point they had discovered that the Tenant had made significant changes to the layout and use of the property. The landlord believed these changes breached the terms of the lease.
- While we were able to dispute several items on the landlord’s schedule of breaches, our review of the alterations, along with the lease, identified several potentially serious breaches by the tenant.
- Our building and general practice surveyors provided professional advice to our client, the tenant, on the likelihood of the landlord being successful in litigation, to support them in finding a resolution to this issue. We advised that the tenant could seek to purchase the freehold of the property, which would mean they could use the property as they wished. Otherwise, we advised them to reinstate the premises to the satisfaction of the landlord’s surveyor.
Read more about our dilapidations survey services here.
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If you would like to discuss a potential project with our consultants or get advice on any aspect of building surveying or engineering, please don’t hesitate to complete our contact form, call us on 0333 202 6386, or contact one of our regional offices.
