Dilapidations Knowledge

We are Dilapidations Surveyors and can help you whether you are a landlord wishing to serve a Dilapidations Notice or defending a Dilapidations or a tenant wishing to defend a Dilapidations Notice. We can also offer Schedules of Condition to help clarify future liabilities please do not hesitate to call us on free phone 0800 298 5424 for a friendly chat.

 

Dilapidations Knowledge

In our experience there are four stages to Dilapidations Knowledge as there are four stages to many issues and problems we come across in life.

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Stage One: Unconscious incompetence

We often come across clients in this situation who have taken on leases and have no idea about the consequences of not carrying out work to the property as stated within the lease. Often tenants are driven by the excitement of the new business starting up or expansion of an existing business.

Put simply this is where you do not know what you do not know!

For example: Your knowledge of Dilapidations at this stage is that you would be asking:

What is Dilapidations?

Why would we use a Schedule of Condition?

Why do we need the help of a Dilapidations Surveyor when we are taking on a lease?

The above questions are the best questions to be asking. If matters are in a worst case scenario you may be asking:

How do we resolve the Dilapidations claim for many thousands of pounds that our landlord has made against us and or our company?

Stage Two: Conscious incompetence

This is where you are aware that you do not have the knowledge and that possibly the knowledge is specialised and you are only vaguely aware that it is available and you know little more.

Often we have clients come to us in this stage of conscious incompetence where they are aware of something known as Dilapidations and perhaps read on the internet about Dilapidations cases for thousands of pounds and know little else. We would also just point out that you should be aware of what you read on the internet and check the source and quality of the information.

If you are this stage of conscious incompetence then it is a good idea to do more research and to increase your knowledge.

We have written surveying and dilapidations articles that may help you:

Dilapidations

A to Z of Dilapidations

Dilapidations The Negotiation

If you are a landlord you may wish to understand better how to serve a Dilapidations notice and what your rights are under your lease.

If you are a tenant you may be aware that a Dilapidations notice can be served upon you. As a tenant we always advise that you cannot ignore Dilapidations as this as certain as death and taxes.

If you remember one piece of information from this article as a tenant or a landlord just about to commence with a lease we would advise to remember the term Schedule of Condition. A good Schedule of Condition can help you considerably.

If you are at the end of a lease whether you are a landlord or a tenant and are looking to deal with the end of the lease with Dilapidations please phone us on free phone 0800 298 5424 and we will provide advice on Dilapidations.

By the way a Dilapidations looks like this:

Stage Three: Conscious competency

This is where possibly you have past experience of dealing with Dilapidations cases or believe you have a reasonable knowledge of Dilapidations although not having dealt with them.

For example: If you are a landlord with a number of properties you may have well instructed Surveyors or Property Management companies over the years to deal with the Dilapidations case for you. You have started to gain knowledge of Dilapidations from this action but knowledge is based upon the experiences you have had.

Equally, you may be a tenant who has had a few leases over the years and have dealt with Dilapidations claims against you.

What we would say is that Dilapidations is a moving target and although you may have a level of competency unless you deal with Dilapidations regularly and keep up with the changes and alterations you may lapse into conscious incompetency!

Do make sure you talk to a Dilapidations Surveyor who understands your type of property. We believe that there is a difference between Surveyors that can deal with Dilapidations on warehouses/industrial buildings or retail or offices.

Stage Four: Mastery

Moving from conscious competence to mastery can be a long process. This is about building both knowledge and experience and is why you need a Dilapidations Surveyor who has dealt with many cases over many years.

With Dilapidations there are key figures that shape and form how we deal with Dilapidations. These are what we would call being at the top level and as such are relatively expensive. You may well want these services if money was no object but in reality you do not.

A great example of moving from one stage to the next is learning to drive a car. As a passenger you are unconsciously incompetent but more than willing in some cases to be a backseat driver and pass on comments.

When learning to drive you are consciously incompetent.

You then move onto being able to drive adding other skills such as navigation, drinking cups of coffee/bottles of water, talking hands free on the phone all thrown in with day dreaming. Who has not driven to a destination and not remembered how they got there?! This is the consciously competent stage.

The mastery standard if we were relating this to car driving is most likely a Formula One driver which is not necessarily the way you wish to drive everyday but is good to know that you have the knowledge to drive at this level when needed. This is the same with a Dilapidations case as you do need to have someone who understands fully Dilapidations problems.

Please see a few more of our surveying articles and articles on Dilapidations to help you move into the consciously incompetence stage:-

Landlords and Tenants

Why have one of our surveys

Negotiations with your landlord

The lazy solicitor and your lease

The Dilapidations Protocol and the RICS Dilapidations Guidance Notes

It should be remembered that the Dilapidations process is a semi-legal process and as such Surveyors will follow the Dilapidations Protocol. If the Surveyor is a Chartered Surveyor they will also be following the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Guidance Notes with regard to Dilapidations. There are various time perimeters within the Protocol as well as ways of working.

For example a Dilapidations claim should be served 56 days after termination of the lease and the response being within 56 days of receiving the Dilapidations claim.

Examples of Dilapidations

Please contact our office; we may be able to give you examples of Dilapidations cases that we have dealt with similar to yours and help you understand how to deal with your particular issue.

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 content of the website is for general information only and is 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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