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Guide · Risk and disputes

The Schedule of Condition and dilapidations disputes

Most end-of-lease dilapidations disputes turn on a single question: what was the condition of the demise at lease grant? With a Schedule of Condition, that question has a documented answer. Without one, both sides are arguing from inference, and the dispute escalates.

Author
CBC Surveyors
Updated
Updated 2025
Reading time
7 min read

Overview

Dilapidations disputes are expensive in legal costs, surveyor fees and management time. They also tend to crystallise when the tenant is least placed to defend them, at lease end, in the middle of a relocation, with the original lease team long-departed. The Schedule of Condition is the single most effective dispute-prevention document in the entire commercial lease.

Where dilapidations disputes typically arise

Disputes generally crystallise around four issues: (1) was the defect pre-existing, (2) what is a reasonable scope of remedial works, (3) what is the diminution in the value of the reversion, and (4) is the landlord's intended use consistent with the works claimed. The first of these is the one a Schedule of Condition directly answers.

Disputes with a Schedule of Condition in place

Where a properly prepared schedule is in place, items that were documented at lease grant are removed from the claim. The dispute, if any, narrows to genuine post-lease deterioration, which is materially smaller in scope and easier to settle.

Disputes without a Schedule of Condition

Without a schedule, the tenant defends pre-existing defects retrospectively, the landlord claims against the unqualified standard, and both sides instruct dilapidations surveyors to construct competing baselines from witness recollection, third-party photographs, and inferences from age and character. Settlement values become wider and litigation risk increases sharply.

The Dilapidations Pre-Action Protocol

The Pre-Action Protocol for Dilapidations Claims governs the process between landlord and tenant before any litigation. The Schedule of Condition is one of the foundational evidential documents within that process, referenced in the Quantified Demand and the response to it.

Specialist insight

What we see in practice

The dilapidations claims that settle quickly and at fair values are almost always those where a properly prepared Schedule of Condition is in place. The claims that escalate, drag on and end up before the courts are almost always those where there is no schedule, or where the schedule is generic and unable to bear evidential weight.

, CBC Surveyors

Key takeaways

What to remember

  • 01Dilapidations disputes typically turn on the condition at lease grant.
  • 02A properly prepared Schedule of Condition removes pre-existing items from the claim.
  • 03Without a schedule, both sides argue from inference, and disputes escalate.
  • 04The Pre-Action Protocol relies on contemporaneous evidence; the schedule is foundational.
Common questions

Frequently asked

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