Canterbury & Kent

Dilapidations Expert Witness

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When a commercial lease ends, landlords and tenants frequently disagree about the cost of putting the property back into repair. An independent chartered surveyor acting as expert witness can settle that disagreement with an impartial, evidence-based opinion that a court or mediator can rely on. Canterbury Surveyors provides dilapidations expert witness services for both landlords and tenants throughout Canterbury, Kent and the wider UK, covering breaches of repair, decoration and reinstatement covenants at lease end and during the term.

When a dilapidations expert is needed

Disputes usually centre on a terminal schedule of dilapidations, a landlord’s claim for damages, or the condition required to operate a break clause. The figures each side puts forward can be a long way apart, because they rest on different assumptions about the standard of repair the lease genuinely requires, the works that are actually necessary, and the loss the landlord has truly suffered. Our surveyor reviews the lease, the schedule and the supporting evidence from first principles and reports independently, whether you are bringing the claim or defending it.

Section 18(1) and the diminution cap

Under Section 18(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927, a landlord’s damages for disrepair cannot exceed the amount by which the value of the reversion has actually fallen because of the breaches. Where a landlord intends to redevelop or substantially alter the building, that loss may be small or even nil. Acting as a RICS Registered Valuer, we prepare Section 18(1) diminution valuations that test the claim against the real effect on value, rather than simply the headline cost of the works.

The evidence and the report

• A close reading of the repairing, decorating and reinstatement covenants, and any licences for alterations
• An inspection and costed assessment of the works properly attributable to the tenant
• A Section 18(1) diminution valuation where the cost of works is in dispute
• A report compliant with CPR Part 35 and the Dilapidations Protocol, with reasoning the court can follow
• Support through negotiation, mediation, single joint expert instruction or, where it comes to it, trial

Every report is written to the standards expected of an expert whose overriding duty is to the court, not to the instructing party. That independence is exactly what gives the opinion weight when a claim is negotiated or contested. Speak to us about instructing a dilapidations expert witness and we will explain the likely approach and a fixed fee before any work begins.