Identify the Lee commercial lease within its actual building arrangement
Lewisham's Lee Manor appraisal distinguishes larger stock-brick houses towards eastern Handen Road from more varied red brick, render and mock-timber details further west. Where a commercial lease covers adapted accommodation within that setting, start with the actual address and plan rather than a uniform Lee house specification. Identify the rooms, entrance, external elements and any shared structure included in the demise. The historic residential description does not establish a current business use or a tenant's obligations. Obtain the executed lease and relevant supplemental records, then attach each alleged breach to the particular premises and covenant being considered.
The commencement record and later alteration papers should explain which components were supplied with the letting and which changed during occupation. Mark partitions, equipment, signs, service routes and altered openings where they feature in a reinstatement proposal. Keep tenant fit-out separate from landlord work or a project concerning another part of the building. A decorative feature that appears old is not evidence of who installed it or the condition standard agreed in the lease. Identify the relevant licence and notice position with the legal adviser instead of treating return of the unit as an automatic requirement to strip every later addition.
Local evidence: Lewisham: Lee Manor character appraisal, Handen Road and entrance details.
Separate the Lee entrance, boundary and facade components in the schedule
The Lee Manor account records glazed entrance hoods and suspended porches with decorative hanging balusters. It also describes low red-brick boundaries and terracotta finials towards western Handen Road. If such an element is relevant to the commercial lease claim, identify its actual support, glazing, material and relationship to the demised accommodation. Repair to an entrance hood, redecoration and replacement of a boundary cap should remain separate operations. Record the condition and proposed remedy, with investigation or suitable technical advice where concealed construction limits a reliable specification. The source's description does not establish a defect or tenant responsibility at the instructed property.
Clarify whether the inspection supports an interim schedule while the tenant remains, a terminal assessment near expiry or a final record after departure and remedial work. Use dated photographs and revisions to distinguish those stages. RICS dilapidations guidance informs the professional preparation of schedules and responses, with the alleged obligation, proposed work and cost explained. Mechanical and electrical items require equipment references, maintenance information and an agreed assessment scope. An allowance for a complete porch or service installation should not conceal uncertainty about whether a local repair, decoration or a separately documented reinstatement item is the relevant contractual remedy.
Local evidence: Lewisham: Lee Manor character appraisal, Handen Road and entrance details; RICS: Dilapidations in England and Wales.
Examine the landlord's proposed Lee alterations before quantifying loss
If the landlord proposes a new entrance arrangement, internal reconfiguration or wider refurbishment, obtain the actual drawings and decision chronology. Locate the planned changes against the claim, identifying which components would remain and which would be removed as part of the scheme. The appraisal's account of varied houses on Handen Road or differing scale on Effingham and Southbrook Roads is not evidence of present business demand, a future letting or an available residential conversion. Keep an initial option separate from an evidenced intention. Where supersession is argued, explain the effect on the particular scheduled item and retain the documents supporting that view.
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: Lewisham: Lee Manor character appraisal, Handen Road and entrance details; Landlord and Tenant Act 1927, section 18; Civil Procedure Rules: Dilapidations Protocol.
Show the work position and boundary protection behind the Lee estimate
The appraisal describes taller houses towards eastern Effingham and Southbrook Roads and different scales further west. A repeated decorative detail therefore cannot establish an identical access method at every address. Measure the actual work position and approach, identifying entrance restrictions, retained boundary elements and protection required. If temporary removal of a wall component or gate is proposed, establish control, permissions and the intended reinstatement before using the method in the cost claim. The estimate should separate investigation, permanent repair, handling and making good, with a defined quantity and duration rather than one unexplained access sum transferred from a nearby building.
Substantiate the Quantified Demand with the relevant detailed estimate or invoice and the explanation of additional loss sought. Where the tenant challenges the method, extent or rate, retain the response against the same component reference and identify the evidence behind each position. Distinguish work needed for the alleged breach from work serving the landlord's new arrangement. The terminal protocol requires consideration of likely loss and landlord intentions, so the first contractor's total should not be treated as the final assessment by itself. Preserve the inspection record, scheme documents and agreed exclusions so a negotiated outcome remains traceable to the actual Lee premises.
Local evidence: Lewisham: Lee Manor character appraisal, Handen Road and entrance details; Civil Procedure Rules: Dilapidations Protocol.
Lee lease-end questions
Does the Lee Manor appraisal establish a current commercial use?
No. It supplies historical building-form and material context. Identify the actual premises, present arrangement and commercial lease documents before applying that context; it does not allocate obligations or prove the condition of the tenant's accommodation.
Should a Lee entrance hood and boundary finial be one repair item?
Identify their separate components, condition and proposed treatment where they fall within the claim. The schedule should explain the relevant obligation and extent of work rather than hide different materials or unresolved support questions in a broad replacement allowance.
Does a proposed Lee reconfiguration remove the repair claim automatically?
No. Obtain the actual plans, timing and evidence of intention, then identify which claimed works would be affected. Appropriate legal and valuation advice may be needed on diminution, supersession and the repairing-covenant limits in section 18(1).
Can a nearby Lee property's access price be used unchanged?
Only if the actual method and conditions support it. Establish the work height, route, retained boundaries, permissions and protection for this premises, and substantiate the quantities and duration used in the costed remedy.
Related guidance: London dilapidations advice; lease condition records; licence to alter.
Lee Schedule of Dilapidations Enquiry (From £1,250 plus VAT)
Content updated: October 2026.