Dilapidations Help! From DilapsHelp.com

What we can do for you

We market the services of independent Surveyors. Surveyors pride themselves on a high standard of work. We can offer Schedules of Condition with regard to leases , Property Reports, Schedules of Dilapidations, Scott Schedules, Commercial Building Surveys, Structural Reports, Specific Defects Reports. Note these are not for bank lending but are to advise you how much we feel the property is really worth. If you have a property problem we may even already have written an article on it and we would refer you to the many articles we have on our home page 1stAssociated.co.uk. use independent surveyors who are more than happy to chat. Please Free phone us on 0800 298 5424 and surveyor will call you back.

The following is for the landlord / investor and the tenant / lessee.

We offer four levels of service:

The Advisor Role

The Expert Role

The Negotiator Role

The expert Witness Role

You choose which one is most suitable for your needs.

Advice you can make business decisions upon Advisor Role for the Leaseholder

As specialist Surveyors we always recommend that initially you instruct us to advise on the strategy and tactics of a Dilapidations claim. There is no point in looking at the nitty gritty of a claim before you have the overview and your strategic position based upon this. Our understanding of the following will enable us to give you commonsense, realistic advice:

Business

Property

Schedules of Condition

Schedules of Dilapidations

The Law of Property Act 1925 (and associated amendments!)

The Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 (and associated amendments!)

The Leasehold Property (Repairs) Act 1938 (and associated amendments!)

The Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (and associated amendments!)

Section 18 Valuations

The Property Litigation Association's recommended Protocol

We can offer a devil's advocate type role where we look at what if' scenarios to establish the route that most suits your situation best. There may be many implications, which could be anything from the timing of the Dilapidations claim, to the cost, to VAT implications etc; we can look at all these scenarios in a day and advise you.

We advise, you decide.

Expert Role Acting for the Landlord

This is where we are instructed to prepare a Schedule of Dilapidations and do so in the spirit of the Property Litigation Associations Protocol and in accordance with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Guidance Notes. We prepare a detailed report, bearing in mind your end goal, be it to have the repairs carried out or to agree a financial sum in compensation or gain control of the property again. We give commonsense realistic business Advice.

Expert Role Acting for the Leaseholder

We can comment on the Schedule of Dilapidations that has been served upon you or even the one that is likely to be served upon you. We can go through what can and can't be required under a Schedule of Dilapidations and your lease; it is surprising what the term repair' within the lease does and does not cover. This type of work will involve:

A visit to the property

A review of the Schedule of Dilapidations,

A review of the lease,

A review of any supporting documents such as Schedules of Conditions served on day one' or appended to the lease

Side letters and any subsequent agreements for alterations, amendments and improvements to the property

We gather all the above altogether and comment upon the Schedule of Dilapidations that has been served on you and then, if you wish, go through item by item identifying whether it is a valid claim or not, identifying the extent of the claim and identifying a cost. For example, you may, like many, have an asbestos roof and within the Dilapidations Schedule be asked to repair or replace the roof due to defects. In this case we would be able to advise you of what is acceptable as a repair' (this is specific to your property) and whether it is likely that if the claim went to court you would be asked to carry out something more substantial such as replacing the roof. Replacing asbestos roofs are not cheap, even the alternative, which is to encapsulate them, (which basically means to cover them above and below and seal them) can be very expensive and disruptive to your business beneath.

Negotiating for the Landlord

To negotiate on a Schedule of Dilapidations you have to know the rules of the game. It has been likened to a game of poker: you may not necessarily have the best but you can still win' if you play skilfully with the hand that you have.

Negotiating for the Leaseholder / Tenant

Negotiation is normal within these situations and will put you in the best position possible, in line with our brief, and also position you correctly should the claim end up in court.

Dilapidations Negotiation General Comment

Whether you use us or someone else to deal with your dilapidations it is very important to have an experienced, skilled, and knowledgeable Surveyor for the negotiations.

In the past we have come across large specialist surveying practices that have delegated the dilapidations claim because it is small' in their eyes, compared with the other business they have got, to an associate or unqualified Surveyor; this is exactly what we want as we can literally tie them in knots. If you are just about to instruct a large specialist surveying company you should ensure that you have one of the partners carrying out your Dilapidations claim and not delegating it on to a junior member of staff.

We would add that if the dilapidations claim has been exaggerated or incompetently carried out or equally the response to the dilapidations claim has not been reasonable the Civil Procedures Rules (CPR) look very unfavourably on the party that has sought to distort the truth, slow the proceedings down or potentially de-fraud the other party. Therefore, you do need to know what you are doing with regard to dilapidations.

We negotiate, you decide.

Dilapidations In Court Expert Witness Role

We are happy and experienced in court work, preparing statements of truth, to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Practical Statement and Guidance Note, surveyors acting as expert witnesses'; we are also fully aware of our legal obligation to comply with the Civil Procedures Rules (CPR), which developed to enable full exchange of information before proceedings are issued and to avoid litigation where possible, and generally to support the affective management of the proceedings where litigation cannot be avoided. We provide commonsense, realistic business advice on your dilapidation's claim, either working for the Landlord or the tenant.

Independent Surveyors

If you truly do want an independent expert opinion from a surveyor with regard to valuations, mortgages, mortgage companies, surveys, building surveys, structural reports, engineers reports, specific defects report, structural surveys, home buyers reports or any other property matters please contact 0800 298 5424 for a surveyor to give you a call back.

Commercial Property

If you have a commercial property, whether it is freehold or leasehold then sooner or later you may get involved with dilapidation claims. You may wish to look at our Dilapidations Website at www.DilapsHelp.com and for Disputes go to our Disputes Help site www.DisputesHelp.com

We hope you found the article of use and if you have any experiences that you feel should be added to this article that would benefit others, or you feel that some of the information that we have put is wrong then please do not hesitate to contact us (we are only human).

The contents of the web site are for general information only and are not intended to be relied upon for specific or general decisions. Appropriate independent professional advice should be paid for before making such a decision.

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