Dilapidations procedures come into play at the end, or alternatively, during the interim stages of a landlord’s and tenant’s lease.
Dilapidations procedures only apply for commercial properties.
Dilapidations are the process whereby the landlord will take stock of their commercial property that they have leased to their tenant.
The purpose of the dilapidations report is to ensure that the landlord can understand the breaches, defects, alterations and disrepair that have arisen to their property by virtue of the tenant’s occupancy of it.
A landlord will want a building surveyor to visit the property and go through it methodically and comprehensively to ensure that they are fully informed in that respect.
Once the landlord had full understanding of the dilapidations that exist within the property, it is common that they will then request by way of Quantified Demand Service, the tenant rectifies and makes good various issues recorded by the building surveyor.
The purpose of a dilapidation survey is to ensure that the tenant is fully aware of the repair obligations that their lease will set out.
As confirmed above, commonly, dilapidations surveys will be done at the end of the lease. This ensures that the tenant doesn’t walk away from the property, leaving the landlord in a position whereby they are going to need to fork out extensive and hefty sums of money to bring the property up to a reasonable condition for an incoming future tenant.
Tenants can dispute dilapidations surveys, however this is commonly done via their own surveyor’s report. That surveyor commenting, cross referencing and setting out the elements of the landlord’s surveyors report that are agreed, along with those that are not.
If a tenant and landlord are still unable to make agreement in respect of the overall dilapidations required and quantum of repair, the only option that is available for the landlord at that stage is to pursue the tenant through the Court.
Here at Stokemont, we take a comprehensive and robust approach to all our dilapidations surveys. Unlike many other surveyors within the profession, we have introduced an industry first, whereby we reference each and every defect noted, directly to the photograph the surveyor takes onsite. This makes it incredibly easy for a tenant’s surveyor to accurately assess and comment on the specific dilapidation we have noted.
If you would like to discuss dilapidation surveys with our team of building surveyors here at Stokemont, please get in touch with us today. We are more than happy to assist and advise you.
