KENT COUNTY COUNCIL

CLIENT BRIEFWhen Kent County Council vacated their premises in central Canterbury, the landlord served them with a claim for terminal dilapidations, which totalled just over £650,000. Kent County Council employed ask-re to review the claim and negotiate on their behalf.****

The premises comprised two properties, each on separate leases. These leases and other associated documents were reviewed to determine Kent County Council’s actual liability for repairs. The landlord’s Terminal Schedule of Dilapidations was assessed to ensure that the works outlined in the schedule reflected Kent County Council’s liability under the lease, and that the cost for such works was fair and reasonable.

OUR PROFESSIONAL APPROACHA site survey was carried out to assess the condition of the premises and whether the works scheduled by the landlord’s surveyor were necessary or required under the terms of the lease. A response was then prepared for the landlord which set out which items were agreed or disputed, and the cost of any relevant items.

In addition, the tenant’s liability was limited by assessing the landlord’s actual loss.

This is assessed as a ‘Section 18 Valuation’ and it looks at the reduction in the value of the property as a result of the tenant’s breaches of repairing covenants.

THE SUCCESS STORYAsk-re carried out a review of the current office market in Canterbury to assess the value of the premises if it was in the condition required by the lease. The premises were then assessed, taking into account the repairs on the value of the premises. The difference in the two values is then assessed as the landlord’s actual loss.

Reviewing the individual work items and their costs, we arrived at a realistic assessment of the repairing liability in the region of £376,000.

However, the assessment of the Section 18 valuation arrived at the much smaller value of £137,500.

The landlord agreed to settle at this figure which delivered a saving of over £500,000 to our client.

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