Lancaster House, Leyland

Dilapidation Report and EPC Review

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With the tenant wanting to leave the property, they started the dilapidation schedule process 12 months prior to the end of their lease. After the landlord carried out their surveys our client was presented with a £4 million pounds dilapidation fee.

SEA Consulting were instructed by the tenant to review the landlords dilapidations claims. The landlord wished to invoke the reinstatement clause in the lease, bringing the building back to its initial condition 10 years prior.

After reviewing the landlords claim and carrying out our own dilapidation survey, it was found the landlord was trying to have new equipment installed instead of repairing existing equipment, in violation of the terms of the lease.

SEA Consulting also carried out an EPC review on the property as we suspected the EPC rating claimed to be an E rating by the landlord, was incorrect based on the installed services. Upon reviewing the EPC, we quickly identified anomalies in the EPC provided to our client. The building should have had an F rating. Additionally, the alterations being requested would not improve the grade. This meant the property would be unlettable under the MEES regulations.

Ultimately, the case went to court and when we challenged the EPC element, the landlord’s energy assessor could not demonstrate that they had followed the EPC conventions correctly. He swiftly stopped turning up to court, which significantly harmed the landlords case.

Based on our work, it was shown that the landlords claims were unfounded and the dilapidations claim was settled at £1 Million, thus saving our client £3 Million pounds in potential costs.