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

Identify the leased Dulwich frontage and the construction behind its style

Southwark's Dulwich Village appraisal records the canopied shop at number 94 as a twentieth-century rebuilding in an earlier style. That example is useful when a commercial lease-end instruction relies on the appearance of a frontage: an historic-looking component is not necessarily untouched original fabric. Locate the actual shop, canopy, upper parts and rear accommodation on the executed lease plan. Establish present occupation and ownership independently of the appraisal. The named shop example supplies local context, not an HCS appointment, a current defect report or proof of the tenant's obligations at another address.

Gather the lease, relevant supplemental documents, alteration licences and condition records before deciding what repair or reinstatement is alleged. A canopy, shopfront fitting and altered structural opening can have different histories and contractual treatment. Identify which work belongs to the current tenant and which predates the tenancy, without inferring responsibility from its visual style. Read any schedule of condition with the term that incorporates it into the lease. A dated photograph may support the evidence, but its existence does not automatically limit every repairing, decoration or reinstatement obligation in the instruction.

Local evidence: Southwark: Dulwich Village appraisal, part 2, section 3.4.

Give Dulwich roof, glazing and fit-out items their own schedule references

The appraisal describes St Barnabas Parish Hall's sweeping tiled roof and leaded dormer windows. This is a particular building example rather than evidence that another leased property has the same roof or current use. Where a commercial instruction concerns comparable roofing or glazing, name the actual slope, dormer, outlet and junction instead of pricing one undifferentiated roof repair. Inspection should distinguish visible condition from concealed construction and identify where specialist advice or testing is needed. The schedule must still connect the alleged remedy to the relevant lease obligation rather than rely on architectural character as its justification.

Confirm the stage of the instruction: an interim issue during occupation, a terminal assessment around expiry or a final check after the tenant's work. Retain the date and conditions of each visit, with consistent references for items exposed or resolved after strip-out. Repair, redecoration and reinstatement should remain intelligible categories, and any required notices should be identified against the relevant licence or covenant. Use the RICS dilapidations professional standard for the reporting process. A refurbishment contractor's estimate can inform costs, but it should not replace the analysis of breach, remedy and scope or imply performance certification of untested installations.

Local evidence: Southwark: Dulwich Village appraisal, part 2, section 3.4; RICS: Dilapidations in England and Wales.

Test Dulwich refurbishment intentions without assuming a local conversion market

Southwark contrasts the stuccoed pair at 50–52 Dulwich Village with earlier brick houses and prominent bays at 60–62. These are distinct architectural examples, not evidence of current commercial leases or redevelopment proposals. For the instructed premises, request the landlord's actual refurbishment or alteration scheme where it is said to affect loss. Mark the rooms and components covered, the decisions made and the proposed timing. A neighbouring building's treatment or a general preference for a new use does not establish that a scheduled repair will be rendered unnecessary at the end of this tenancy.

The section 18(1) analysis concerns repairing-covenant damages, including diminution and the statutory circumstances involving demolition or structural alterations. Apply it with appropriate legal and valuation advice rather than imposing one assumed reduction across every category of claim. If supersession is relied upon, identify the remedy and the evidence of intended work that affects it. The landlord's Quantified Demand should substantiate likely loss, which can differ from the estimated cost of all listed works. A village setting or an apparently attractive frontage supplies no reliable substitute for evidence of actual intentions, reletting circumstances or the value consequence of the alleged breach.

Local evidence: Southwark: Dulwich Village appraisal, part 2, section 3.4; Landlord and Tenant Act 1927, section 18.

Use the actual Dulwich plot to support access costs and the response

The Village appraisal contrasts more generous plots around Burbage Road with tighter garden and building arrangements around Boxall, Aysgarth and Pickwick Roads. For claimed lease-end works, measure the particular approach and working footprint rather than carry an access allowance from a larger nearby plot. Establish who controls the route and which permissions are required for equipment, deliveries or storage. Identify retained boundaries and surfaces needing protection, with making-good assumptions stated. The practical feasibility of a method and the tenant's legal responsibility for its cost are separate matters that should not be concealed within one local-complexity contingency.

Support the numbered schedule with current photographs, quantities, estimates and the documents relevant to each alleged obligation. Follow the applicable commercial Dilapidations Protocol when exchanging the Quantified Demand and reasoned response, retaining explanations for disputed scope, costs and landlord intentions. A later inspection should identify completed work without erasing earlier findings or deciding liability by default. For a Dulwich enquiry, provide the exact premises, client role, lease event and decision deadline, together with the lease, licences, condition records and any schedule received. Agree access and specialist input so the quotation addresses the actual instruction rather than an assumed village building type.

Local evidence: Southwark: Dulwich Village appraisal, part 2, section 3.4; Civil Procedure Rules: Dilapidations Protocol.

Dulwich lease-end questions