SERVICES REQUIRED DURING OCCUPATION OF AN ASSET

Whether you are an Investor or an Occupier, there are a number of different Building Surveying services which are likely to be required during the occupation phase of the property life cycle.

Planned Preventative Maintenance

This effectively provides an itemised schedule of essential repairs likely to be required over a period of 5-10 years with cost estimates assigned to each year.  The essential repair work is subsequently implemented and helps maintain the portfolio/property in good repair, off-setting payments through service charge recovery.

Dilapidations Assessment

The cost of dilapidations is often costly, and comes as a shock to many tenants at the end of their lease. Forewarned is Forearmed. The assessment involved firstly an analysis of the tenant’s legal repair, decorations and reinstatement liability under the terms of the lease. The second phase is a detailed site inspection, and a line by line schedule is produced outlining the items found to be in breach of the lease covenants. These are provided with estimated costs. The resulting dilapidations assessment is used for both account provisioning, and also helping formulate the exit strategy. This is particularly important where a tenant is assessing whether there are any essential repairs which need to be carried out in order to mitigate a landlord’s dilapidations claim.

Terminal Schedule of Dilapidations

This is a formal document prepared by an investor which forms part of the claim for damages (dilapidations claim).  It lists items of lease liability, which a tenant has purportedly failed to undertake by the lease end.    For more details on how to prepare a Terminal Schedule, please visit our article ‘Preparing a Terminal Dilapidations Claim’.

Interim Dilapidations

This is a formal document prepared by an investor listing items of lease liability which a tenant has purportedly failed to undertake during the lease term.

Insurance Reinstatement Cost Assessments

This is prepared by carrying out a measured survey or using gross internal areas provided by the landlord, followed by a site inspection to evaluate the type of property, method and style of construction. These factors are essential to assess the cost of rebuilding the property, using current tender cost information provided by BCIS.  The resulting cost is known as the declared value which is then submitted to insurance brokers for insuring the building.  A full survey is usually undertaken every three years with desktop updates undertaken in the ensuing years.   Cushman & Wakefield’s Building Surveying team and Cost Consultancy teams undertake these on behalf of both property owners and investment managers.
For further information please contact Alex Charlesworth FRICS;