Dilapidations and schedules of condition for commercial roofs
Roof repairs are among the more expensive items a dilapidations claim can contain, and roof condition is easy to dispute when nobody recorded it at the start of the lease. We prepare the roof element of schedules of dilapidations and schedules of condition for landlords and tenants, respond to claims, and price the remedial works where a tenant would rather carry them out than pay damages.
For landlords
We prepare the roof section of the schedule of dilapidations: the covering, gutters, rooflights, flashings and drainage, each item set against the repairing covenants in the lease, with photographs, the remedy and its cost. Schedules are prepared in line with the Pre-Action Protocol for Claims for Damages in relation to the Physical State of Commercial Property at Termination of a Tenancy, known as the Dilapidations Protocol.
For tenants
We review the landlord's schedule item by item, testing whether each item falls within the covenant and whether the remedy and its cost are reasonable. Where carrying out the works before the lease ends would cost less than the claim, we can price them and deliver them on your programme.
Schedules of condition
At the start of a lease, a photographic record of the roof, agreed with the landlord and annexed to the lease, is the usual way of limiting a tenant's repairing liability to the condition recorded. It only works if the lease wording refers to it, so we read the draft lease alongside the survey.
What a claim can recover
Damages for disrepair are generally capped at the reduction in the value of the landlord's interest, under section 18(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927. A schedule priced at full replacement cost is therefore not always what a landlord can recover, and a tenant's response should test it.
When should a tenant start?
As early as possible, and well before the final months of the lease. The earlier the roof element is understood, the more options remain open, including carrying out works on your own programme rather than the landlord's.
Arrange a survey
Tell us the building and what prompted the call. We will confirm the survey fee and a date in writing.