Dilapidations Surveyors in Bow: Schedules, Claims & Lease-End Advice

Define the Bow premises within its particular building form

Tower Hamlets' Fairfield Road appraisal contrasts the Bryant and May factory complex with the domestic streets towards Wrexham Road, Jebb Street and Ridgdale Street. These are different historical building settings, not evidence of today's commercial leases or occupiers. Where a business occupies adapted premises, identify the actual building, floors and external elements from the signed lease and plan. A former factory address does not mean one tenant repairs the entire retained structure, while a terrace entrance may serve several users. Review common-part provisions, later agreements and any condition schedule before assigning roof, facade or service obligations beyond the clearly identified demise and the area actually inspected.

Compile a dated alteration record for partitions, equipment, signs and changes to openings, retaining licences and commencement photographs. Identify the installation whose removal is requested, its contractual basis and the making good required at retained fabric. Seek legal advice on notices and unclear terms before treating a landlord's preferred layout as the handover obligation. Distinguish tenant additions from earlier factory conversion work, landlord fittings or changes by another occupier. If the evidence cannot establish when a component appeared, state that limitation. A general strip-out estimate should not conceal uncertainty about ownership or assume that every alteration visible at expiry was made under the current commercial lease.

Local evidence: Tower Hamlets: Fairfield Road appraisal and adopted July 2016 addendum.

Specify the actual Bow roof and frontage detail

Fairfield Road's adopted 2016 addendum distinguishes concealed London roofs, pitched roofs around Wrexham and Ridgdale Streets, and Hartfield Terrace's shared roof composition. Tower Hamlets' June 2025 Tredegar Square appraisal also identifies differences in brick, stucco and ironwork between the formal square and surrounding terraces. At the instructed premises, locate each alleged breach and inspect the actual construction rather than transfer a neighbouring building's remedy. Separate decoration, local repair and replacement, with quantities supported by the observed condition. A shared roofline does not establish equal deterioration or one tenant's liability for all of it. Explain inaccessible parts and any investigation needed before finalising the proposed treatment.

Record the inspection stage and date. An interim review concerns obligations during the term; a terminal schedule addresses handover; a post-departure assessment can identify the position after tenant repairs or removals. Keep references stable when findings change or an item is completed. Services should be listed through actual equipment, location and maintenance evidence rather than an unexplained replacement figure. RICS guidance supports a structured schedule and response connecting obligations, allegations, remedies and costs. This allows a disagreement over responsibility for a factory or terrace element to be examined separately from the technical evidence for the required extent of work and the basis of its price.

Local evidence: Tower Hamlets: Fairfield Road appraisal and adopted July 2016 addendum; Tower Hamlets: Tredegar Square appraisal, June 2025, sections 2.3–2.5; RICS: Dilapidations in England and Wales.

Compare the Bow landlord’s proposal with each retained component

If the landlord plans a new fit-out, replacement frontage or wider reconfiguration after expiry, request the actual drawings and decision evidence. Identify the elements to remain, be altered or be removed and compare that scope with the repair and reinstatement schedule. Bow's industrial history does not establish a current development intention, incoming occupier or permission for another use. Distinguish a possible design from an instructed scheme and record unresolved timing or planning questions. Where a contractor's quotation includes landlord upgrades, separate them before treating the entire sum as the financial consequence of an alleged tenant breach. The effect on loss must follow the particular premises and proposed works.

Section 18(1) limits damages for breach of a repairing covenant by the resulting diminution in the value of the reversion. It also addresses demolition or structural alterations at or shortly after lease termination that would make the relevant repairs valueless. This is not an automatic cap on every category of a dilapidations claim. Obtain the appropriate legal and valuation assessment for the facts. Supersession should be considered against the landlord's evidenced intentions and the particular work claimed; a repair-cost total is not, by itself, proof of the loss to be demanded.

Local evidence: Tower Hamlets: Fairfield Road appraisal and adopted July 2016 addendum; Tower Hamlets: Tredegar Square appraisal, June 2025, sections 2.3–2.5; Landlord and Tenant Act 1927, section 18; Civil Procedure Rules: Dilapidations Protocol.

Explain Bow garden-side access and retained-feature protection

The Tredegar Square appraisal describes central gardens and the distinct landscaped settings of nearby civic buildings. Those visible spaces are not automatically available for a repair compound, equipment or material storage. Establish the actual boundary, unloading position and lawful route to the workface, with the authority for temporary occupation identified. Record retained ironwork, surfaces and planting affected by the method, obtaining relevant technical advice on protection where needed. A garden-facing elevation may require a different operation from the street frontage, but its cost needs a measured proposal rather than a standard Bow allowance. Disclose permissions or access arrangements still unresolved before relying on an equipment period or handling assumption.

Support the estimate with quantities, labour, duration and the quotation or invoice used. Allocate shared operations across relevant items and distinguish access also required for a landlord improvement. If the tenant suggests a different method, compare practical feasibility and permissions rather than only the headline total. The terminal dilapidations protocol requires a substantiated demand for loss, which may differ from the initial works schedule. Retain lease references, condition photographs, alteration documents and the landlord's intentions beside itemised responses so negotiations can identify whether an outstanding issue concerns the obligation, repair extent, route or financial consequence of the particular alleged breach.

Local evidence: Tower Hamlets: Tredegar Square appraisal, June 2025, sections 2.3–2.5; Civil Procedure Rules: Dilapidations Protocol.

Bow lease-end questions