Dilapidations Surveyor Andover

If you are a commercial tenant facing a dilapidations claim, you need a surveyor working solely to reduce your liability. Opening claims are frequently overstated, and a high proportion of items can be challenged, reduced or removed entirely with proper representation. We assess the claim against your lease and the evidence, strip out anything that is not your responsibility, betterment that improves the landlord’s asset, or works the landlord will never carry out, and negotiate hard to a fair settlement. This is especially valuable on Andover’s larger industrial and warehouse units, where dilapidations claims covering roofs, cladding, floor slabs, loading doors and yards can run to very substantial sums. We are entirely comfortable standing up to the large corporate firms that prepare many landlord claims, testing every line on your behalf. We also assess the diminution in value under Section 18 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927, which can cap your liability at the actual loss to the landlord’s interest, frequently far less than the works claimed.

If you are a commercial landlord or investor, a well-prepared dilapidations claim protects the value of your asset and recovers the genuine cost of your tenant’s breaches. We prepare robust, well-evidenced interim schedules of dilapidations during the lease term, where a tenant’s neglect needs addressing before lease end, and terminal schedules at or near lease end, setting out the breaches and the cost of remedy. We serve quantified demands in line with the Dilapidations Protocol and negotiate directly with the tenant or their surveyor to secure the maximum you are properly owed. Because a claim only achieves its purpose if it is properly prepared, our focus is on building a claim grounded in the precise lease terms and supported by thorough evidence, so that it stands up to scrutiny and recovers what a poorly prepared claim would not.

Andover’s commercial stock and dilapidations

Andover’s building stock is directly relevant to dilapidations, and it is unusually varied for a town of its size. The town expanded substantially under the town expansion scheme of the 1960s and 1970s, and a great deal of its commercial and industrial space dates from that era and is now reaching an age where wear, dated construction and deferred maintenance frequently feature in end-of-lease claims. Alongside this sits the historic market-town centre, with its period, Georgian and Victorian buildings, and the modern distribution and logistics sheds on Walworth Business Park, Andover Business Park and Portway Industrial Estate. Each type carries its own dilapidations issues: ageing flat roofs and services in the expansion-era stock, repair and decoration obligations on period town-centre premises, and large-scale structural, cladding and yard items on the industrial units. Our experience across all of these means we assess claims accurately, whichever side we act for, and our roof and high-level inspections use drone technology as standard and at no additional cost, which is particularly useful on the large roof areas of Andover’s warehouse and distribution units.

Why choose Bressummer A.R.K.

We bring senior, chartered expertise to every dilapidations instruction in Andover. Every client is allocated a chartered building surveyor who handles the matter personally, so the person who inspects the property is the person who negotiates the claim and answers your calls. We are responsive and clear rather than remote and process-driven, and because we act on both sides of dilapidations claims, on separate matters, we understand exactly how the other side thinks, which makes us more effective whether we are defending or advancing a claim. Based nearby at Hursley, we know Andover and the Test Valley well and attend quickly. We have saved clients over one million pounds through dilapidations negotiation and advised on more than 500,000 square feet of commercial space, and we bring that experience to every instruction, large or small.

A conflict-free service

Under RICS rules, a firm cannot act for both the landlord and the tenant on the same dilapidations claim, and we never do. When we act for you, whether as landlord or tenant, our focus is entirely and only on your interest. This single-minded alignment is fundamental to how we work and to the results we achieve.

The dilapidations process explained

Although every case turns on its own lease and facts, dilapidations generally follow a recognisable path. During the lease, the tenant is obliged to keep the property in the state the lease requires, and a landlord may serve an interim schedule if the property is being allowed to fall into disrepair. As the lease approaches its end, the landlord’s surveyor prepares a terminal schedule of dilapidations, listing the alleged breaches and the cost of remedying them, served on the tenant with a quantified demand in line with the Dilapidations Protocol. The tenant’s surveyor then responds, challenging items that are overstated, not the tenant’s responsibility, or affected by the Section 18 cap. The two surveyors negotiate, and the great majority of claims settle without formal proceedings. Whichever side we act for in Andover, our aim is a fair, evidence-based outcome reached as efficiently as possible.

Areas we cover around Andover

We act on dilapidations throughout Andover and the wider Test Valley, including the town centre, Walworth Business Park, Andover Business Park, Portway Industrial Estate and the surrounding commercial areas, extending across Hampshire to Winchester, Basingstoke, Salisbury and beyond. We attend easily from our base at Hursley, near Winchester.