As A Tenant, How Can You Limit Your Dilapidations Liability At The End Of Your Lease Period?

If you are a tenant in a given property, you will be required to agree with your landlord to maintain it to a given standard. However, at the end of the lease term if you will have failed to do so, you will face a claim from your landlord for the costs of refurbishing or reinstating that property. This claim is usually referred to as dilapidations. Typically, you may either instigate the repairs to reinstate the property as agreed in the lease term or defend the claim of your landlord for damages. You can save a significant amount of money by making the right decision. Nonetheless, there are multiple ways of reducing your dilapidation liability. Read on to find out how exactly you can do that.

Handle The Dilapidations Work Before Your Lease Term Ends

Undertaking your dilapidations exercise before the end of your lease term is very important. This is because doing this while you are still occupying the property will prevent you from paying any extra costs or losses of rent if your landlord has to do the work after your lease ends. In addition, doing the dilapidations on your own gives you the ultimate control over the costs. However, you need to be very careful because if you don't do it to satisfactory standards, your landlord may still claim for the dilapidation work to be done.

Find An Estimate From A Contractor

Contact a contractor and find out an estimate of the total costs of the work required to remedy the dilapidations. Knowing how much you would spend to reinstate the property will help you reach a favourable agreement with your landlord. Having the contractor's estimate is good for negotiations because it will act as evidence to the realistic costs of undertaking the dilapidations work. In addition, it shows the landlord that you are willing to conduct the work. Skilled fit-out contractors should be able to give you a realistic estimate.

Have A Regular Repair And Maintenance Programme

This will reduce the risks or major repairs within the property. The more repairs needed, the higher your dilapidations liability will be.

Make Sure You Agree Favourably On Repairs When Signing The Lease

This will depend on the state of the property at the start and end of the lease period. For instance, if at the start of the lease the property is evidently in a poor state of decoration and repair, don't agree to keep it in good condition or repair. This is because such a term will oblige you to improve the condition of the property, which will lead to a higher dilapidation liability. Instead, you can agree to keep the property in a condition that's not worse than it actually was at the beginning of the lease.

For more information, contact a building consultancy.

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