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If you are the landlord of a commercial real estate property, you need to ensure that your tenant is legally bound to cover the costs of any damage done to the property while they are occupying it, often known as “dilapidations”. Prior to the start of the lease, you should enlist the services of an RICS Chartered Surveyor. The surveyor will prepare a Schedule of Condition, which is a comprehensive accounting of the state of the property at the time the tenant takes possession.
As your lease term comes to a close, you might consider having another dilapidations survey done to reveal any potential damages your tenant caused during their stay. If you are the tenant and you’ve been served with a Schedule of Dilapidations (the document that itemizes what you’re responsible for making right), you are well within your rights to get a second opinion from a Chartered Surveyor.
Landlords typically request dilapidation surveys, but these assessments can also serve tenants well in various circumstances. When a Chartered Surveyor conducts a dilapidation survey, they examine the premises room by room. Their thorough assessments cover all spaces and elements of the property, including:
Essentially, a Chartered Surveyor will inspect every part of your property that is visible. They might check any neighbouring properties, too, to note their condition.
If landlords want to know how good or bad a property is before they let it, they can incorporate a dilapidation survey report into the lease. After a building has been let, a dilapidation survey report can help an owner know how well (or poorly) a tenant has been maintaining the place. If a tenant leaves behind a property that’s not in good shape, the landlord can ask the surveyor to make out a Schedule of Dilapidations, which lists damage and estimates the cost of making good what the tenant should have done.
When a landlord assembles a Schedule of Dilapidations, the purpose is not to profit from the tenant. The dilapidation schedule’s intent is simply to document, with supportive evidence, what repairs are necessary to bring the premises into compliance with the lease terms, including:
The landlord can ask for no more than the actual cost of the repairs.
Once a tenancy concludes, a surveyor will interrogate the landlord about the intentions for the property going forward. If the landlord plans to remodel or substantially change the property, for instance, the tenant isn’t liable to pay for any of those changes. Of course, the landlord is expected to be honest; if the surveyor finds out the landlord wasn’t forthright, the landlord could get sued.
A commercial dilapidation survey protects landlords, tenants, and even surveyors from misunderstanding and misinformation that can lead to expensive disputes and court appearances. This is true primarily because the procedures laid out in the Dilapidations Protocol are the best fair way to resolve these disagreements with minimum fuss. Dilapidation surveys are most commonly done on commercial properties, but there’s no reason a surveyor can’t do one on a residential property, too.
As a landlord, you hope that your leaseholders will respect your property, but you can never be sure. Your leaseholder could do any number of things that could significantly detract from the condition of your property—either through maliciousness or negligence—that you would not allow if you were in control of the property.
Contractual obligations: at least with a dilapidation survey, you have committed to a process that ensures the basic contractual obligations of your leaseholders must be met.
Recording information: the survey also gives you a way to record any significant changes to the property so that, should the changes end up being significant, you have a basis on which to argue for repairs that ensure the property is returned to a condition akin to that which it was in when the leaseholder took it.
Prevent unnecessary claims by your landlord: to prevent your landlord from attempting to overcharge you for allegedly inflated repair costs, you might want to have a dilapidation survey conducted by a Chartered Surveyor before your lease ends. This will give you a clearer picture of what actual repairs might have cost, as opposed to the inflated figures your landlord might provide.
Monitor repairs: if you take it upon yourself to make repairs and remove alterations that you made during the tenancy before you receive the Schedule of Dilapidations, you are under no obligation to use your landlord’s preferred contractors, who may charge you significantly more than your own contractor.
Control legal expenses: contesting a claim can be very costly. If you want to keep legal fees and court appearances to a minimum, you might consider hiring a chartered surveyor to prepare a dilapidation survey for you. It is important to understand that most disputes do not go to court and are settled by using an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) process. Your surveyor can assist you in reaching a resolution by means of expert determination or through the processes of mediation and arbitration.
We can assist landlords and tenants with dilapidation matters, whether it’s a landlord needing to establish the tenant’s dilapidation liability or a tenant who believes their liabilities have been unfairly represented in a Schedule of Dilapidations. Call us if you want guidance or to set up a free consultation.
The primary advantage of having a rent review surveyor is the skill with which he or she navigates the often tedious rent review process.
The day of the actual review should go pretty smoothly, given that there should be a representative for both sides—landlord and tenant—present to work things out. You can feel confident that your side will not be the one doing the stalling on the day of the review.
Before asking for a rent review, you or your landlord must ascertain that adequate notice was given. Negotiation is a huge part of the tenant’s rent review process, and it is at this stage that a Chartered Surveyor will assert how vital the notice period is with 3 months being the benchmark in the industry.
The property owner will either use the Retail Prices Index to calculate the figure and the rate of commercial rent that is ordinarily accepted across the UK or will examine other local rent reviews and lease advisory reports to arrive at an average figure.
The Full Building Survey report includes the following:
When it comes to the detail that the surveyor will go into concerning defects, repairs, and maintenance, the Homebuyer Survey is fairly standard. Full Building Surveys, however, are more refined and go into more detail about possible and likely defects. Repairs and maintenance are covered in more detail. The Survey cost depends on the age, size, and value of the property.
The analysis they undertake is a visual inspection. This means that, for the most part, the building components that can be seen will be looked at and assessed in accordance with the surveyor’s remit. The Home Survey Report will show you the visible defects and then go on to discuss the kinds of partially hidden or totally hidden defects that the surveyor thinks you should be aware of. It will also try to clarify what kinds of repair work need to be done and the nature of the repairs. The survey is effectively a way to consider “defects” and their potential impact on the building.
A Building Survey Report contains the most important information for understanding the condition of a property. The surveyors that undertake the work follow a set procedure. The first part of the report contains a general overview of the property and its surroundings. The second part details the major and minor problems with the property’s components, inside and out. These problems range from serious structural defects to issues with doors or windows that don’t close properly, and everything in between. The report is written in clear English, complemented by diagrams and photographs. If any of the problems found are what a surveyor might consider important, that’s what the report indicates—using clear and unambiguous language.
Surveyors usually use a tick box to indicate methods of repair when drafting a building survey report. They are also required to comment on the timescale of any repairs. A condition rating is typically included: what needs to be addressed immediately, what is in the process of deteriorating but is in reasonable condition, and what has not deteriorated at all.
A building surveyor is responsible for a variety of checks and tests during a building inspection. These could be checks or tests for damp and woodworm, or they could be visual inspections of the building’s structure. In building surveying, there are visual inspections of roofs – checking for tiles and slates (if applicable) and also checking for leadwork (if applicable) and looking at the junctions between roof and wall. If the wall structure has brick in it, the surveyor will visually check for any “spalling” (brick breaking apart visibly) and any bulging (brick failing to hold its place visibly), for example.
If defects need fixing immediately, then the options recommended for this survey specify what to repair and give some idea of how long the problem has existed. For the most part, this survey describes recommended repair approaches that are standard in the industry and that do not require excessive expenditure. Future maintenance is also discussed, including what to expect when the problem being surveyed is not repaired and what to expect with repairs that are made but with questionable methodology.
Your surveyor will explain some of the legal aspects of purchasing the building, covering—in as much or as little detail as you desire, and their implications, but this is subject to your solicitor verifying.
You might consider having a separate market valuation done to determine whether the property’s asking price is warranted. You’ll also need a reinstatement cost valuation for insurance reasons.
RICS’s industry guidelines suggest building surveys for properties that are large, very old, in some disrepair, or have unusual features. Building surveys are also recommended if you plan to do any significant renovations or extensions.
If you’re purchasing a relatively modern home that’s in decent shape and built to ordinary standards, then a Home Buyer Survey is an acceptable choice. If you want the assurance of an inspection and report that are pretty much guaranteed to turn up any issues that might be hidden or just hard to see, then you should go for a Full Building Survey instead.
The Full Building Survey is more detailed; it is more specifically tailored to the property your surveyor would be inspecting. It also comes with more advice on the visible defects found and on the potential hidden defects that they suspect may be present. Your surveyor will illustrate reports with photographs so that you can clearly see what has been discovered. Both the Home Buyer and Full Building Surveys describe the repairs needed, the order in which the repairs should be done, and the kind of “maintenance measures” that will be required to keep the property in good condition.
A HomeBuyer Report does include a market valuation as well as reinstatement costs. However, a Full Building Survey does not. The main reason for the differences in what is and isn’t included in the two types of reports is how focused the reports are on the condition of the property. The Full Building Survey is the most in-depth and comprehensive survey of a property that you can have done.
All the professionals on our panel, whether Building Surveyors or Structural Engineers, are members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) or hold equivalent accreditation from an industry-standard body (e.g. RPSA or CIOB). This ensures that you can be completely confident in the thoroughness and comprehensiveness of your Building Survey Report or Valuation. Your surveyor will be independent and will provide you with expert advice based on their judgment and without any bias.
Looking for a Chartered Surveyor? If you are buying a property, contact us for a building survey. Our panel of CIOB, RPSA and RICS surveyors will help you with the Level 2 or Level 3 property survey you need in Notting Hill. We can also assist you in Red Book Valuations, Party Wall Awards and other services. Reach out to us today for building surveyors, valuers and party wall surveyors in London!
