A claim spread across six inboxes
A tenant leaves a warehouse unit at the end of a ten-year lease. The building surveyor prepares a schedule of dilapidations. It goes to the tenant's surveyor. A response comes back, marked up line by line. There are site meetings, revised costings, a question about whether the landlord intends to refurbish anyway, and slow settlement talks.
Eight months later the asset manager who started the claim has moved on. The file is a mix of the surveyor's emails, a shared folder with three versions of the schedule, a few photos on someone's phone, and a spreadsheet of costs that does not match the latest schedule. Nobody is sure what was offered, what was rejected and what the next deadline is.
Why dilapidations files fall apart
A dilapidations claim is a long-running negotiation with legal, technical and commercial strands. The professional work sits with your building surveyor and solicitor. The landlord's job is to keep hold of the file, make timely decisions and not lose track. That is where it breaks.
- The claim is run through the surveyor's inbox, so the landlord's own record is thin.
- Versions of the schedule and the tenant's responses multiply.
- Key dates from the lease and from the process your advisers follow are held in diaries.
- Decisions about the landlord's intentions for the unit, which can affect the claim, are not recorded.
- Photos and the original schedule of condition are hard to find.
- The outcome is agreed by email and never recorded against the unit.
Several claims running at once, across a portfolio, multiplies all of this.
What a messy claim costs
Decisions are made late or without the full picture. Settlement offers are harder to judge when nobody can see the history. Advisers spend time, which you pay for, reassembling the file. And when a tenant's surveyor asks a question about a document you should have, the delay weakens your position. After settlement, the lessons, costs and condition data for the unit are lost for next time.
The claim file we build
- At a lease end, or a break, a claim file opens automatically from the lease record, with the lease, licences for alterations and the schedule of condition attached.
- Stages and deadlines are set from the process your surveyor and solicitor give you, and each has an owner and reminders.
- Emails with your surveyor, the tenant's surveyor and solicitors are filed to the claim automatically by reference and sender, so the landlord holds its own complete record.
- Each version of the schedule and response is stored in order, with a summary of the latest position by item, extracted with AI and checked by a person.
- Offers, counter-offers and your internal decisions, including your intentions for the unit, are logged with dates and who made them.
- At settlement, the agreed figure and any works undertaken are recorded against the unit's history, and the payment is tracked through your accounts system.
| What you need to know | Where it is now | Where it is with the claim file |
|---|---|---|
| Latest schedule and response | Somebody's inbox | Latest version at the top of the file |
| Next deadline | The surveyor's diary | On the file, with an owner |
| What we have offered | Scattered emails | Offer log with dates |
| Condition at lease start | Hard to find | Attached from the lease record |
| Outcome | Rarely recorded | Stored against the unit |
The claim file organises the process. The content of the claim, and the legal and technical judgements, stay with your surveyor and solicitor.
What changes for asset managers
Every live claim can be seen on one screen: stage, next deadline, latest position and who owns it. When someone leaves or goes on holiday, the file carries on. Your advisers get the documents they ask for from one place, quickly. And each unit gathers a history of condition, works and claims that is useful at the next letting.
For the directors, a short report shows claims open across the portfolio, how long each has been running and the position on each. That report is a filter on the files, not an afternoon of emails to surveyors.
Is this how your claims run?
- Dilapidations files live mostly in your surveyor's inbox.
- You have lost track of what was offered in a claim.
- Schedules of condition are hard to find at lease end.
- Claims stall when the person running them leaves.
- Settlements are not recorded against the unit.