Commercial Surveys

These include a detailed inspection of a wide range of commercial properties including shops, offices and warehousing and are appropriate when contemplating the purchase or lease of a property.

We can prepare a Schedule of Condition or a Schedule of Dilapidations and we are happy to provide professional advice for specific purposes, for instance upgrading and modification of the building and services.

Schedule of Condition

A Schedule of Condition is carried out in order to determine the condition of a property asset so that any existing defects and their repair costs are identified prior to any commencement of work.
Depending upon a client’s requirements, the Schedule can record the asset’s principle feature only, or may be prepared to a very high level of technical detail.

A Schedule of Condition may be drawn up for a variety of purposes, including:

• As an attachment to a lease, to limit a tenant’s repairing liability
• The commissioning or non-commissioning parties in advance of building works
• The neighbouring land owners prior to repair works
• In support of Party Wall claims

When you acquire the lease of business premises in the UK you may find that you have accepted a repairing liability which will mean that you have to leave the property in a better condition than it was at the start of the lease. The benefits of obtaining a Schedule of Condition means you are:

• Limiting your liability
• Avoiding unnecessary costs
• Making informed decisions
• Better equipped in negotiations

To avoid unexpected costs, well advised business tenants can document the condition of the premises before they acquire a lease and ensure that the lease limits their liability by reference to the Schedule of Condition. The reasoning behind this is that most business premises in the UK are let on Full Repairing and Insuring Leases. This means that the tenant is liable for ALL the repairs required to keep and put the premises in good condition, this includes significant repairs, such as the replacement of a roof covering.

Dilapidations

Dilapidations are the breaches of a covenant to repair a building contained in the lease. These breaches can take many forms. The liability to repair can have serious financial implications and therefore obtaining the professional advice of a Chartered Building Surveyor gives the opportunity to limit or mitigate dilapidations before entering into a lease. We can act for the Tenant when a schedule of dilapidations has been served upon him and negotiate on his behalf.

We frequently act for the Landlord and serve a Schedule of Dilapidations upon the Tenant at an interim stage or towards the end of the lease. The Tenant may have the opportunity to put right the defects, depending on what type of schedule is issued. In the issue of a Final Schedule on behalf of the Landlord, the claim for damages may include not only the repair costs but also loss of rent, service charges, rates, professional fees and VAT for the period during which the property cannot be occupied, during which the repairs are to be carried out.