DILAPIDATIONS: PLANNING FOR A SUCCESSFUL OUTCOME FOR BOTH LANDLORDS AND TENANTS

This talk will look at what both lawyers and surveyors can do – individually and working together – to reduce the chances of a dispute, or, if a dispute is unavoidable, maximise the client’s prospects of the best possible result:

• Start before the lease is even signed:
  • Alterations and reinstatement provisions
  • Schedules of condition (not the golden ticket they might seem)
• Before lease expiry:
  • The importance of open dialogue
  • Taking account of the landlord’s intentions
  • Putting the right team together
  • Should you do the work? Balancing the risk
• After lease expiry:
  • The Protocol – a useful framework
  • Doing what’s right for the investment
  • The landlord’s works
  • Possible futures of the property
• If the worst should happen:
  • Valuation issues
  • Some important cases

Richard Kay, Partner, Beckett and Kay