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At the end of a lease term a schedule of dilapidations was served on the tenant excess of £130,000. The tenant contacted Dabinett to deal with the claim to reduce this and reach an equitable position. Negotiations were protracted but eventually agreement was arrived at, reducing the original claim significantly.
The tenant had been in occupation of two units since the early 2000s. There had been a succession of leases and during the various terms there had been a variety of alterations. The dilapidations claim required numerous items of repair, decoration and also a number of items of reinstatement of alterations.
A key issue was the removal of alterations and returning the property to the original form. Dabinett successfully argued and made it clear that the original schedule of dilapidations asked for the reinstatement of alterations which were not valid under the most recent lease.
A defence to the claim was based on several points:
The claim was eventually settled for a little over one third of the original claim. A cash settlement was agreed and matters were settled.
Without professional advice and Dabinett’s attention to detail then the matter of circa £40,000 of invalid reinstatement claims may have been missed and left the tenant with a much larger bill.
At Dabinett, we have experience in preparing dilapidation surveys for landlords for various property types from small shops to large office buildings. We can also negotiate a settlement with the tenant and their surveyors and have worked on claims ranging from £10,000 to several million pounds.
If you require our dilapidation survey services, please contact our friendly team today!
