Our Client operated a dental surgery in Surrey and, due to his imminent retirement, the ownership of the dental practice was due to be transferred from him, the Senior Partner of the Practice, to another Partner.
The Practice operated from the first floor of a building and the Lease for their demise was in the name of the Senior Partner. The Senior Partner was selling his business to another Partner and he had approached his Landlord to surrender his lease early and requested that the Landlord grant his Partner a new lease.
The Landlord instructed a surveyor to prepare a Schedule of Dilapidations of the demise to negotiate a surrender of the existing lease. Our Client instructed me to review and assess Schedule of Dilapidations which formed the Landlords claim.
The Schedule of Dilapidations had been prepared on the basis that the tenant was vacating the property and the demise was being yielded up to the Landlord. The claim included for the strip out of the demise, including the removal of all the Surgery fittings. The Schedule of Dilapidations did not reflect the fact the business was to remain operational and reinstatement of the tenant’s surgery fittings was not required and not an appropriate element of the claim.
We provided detailed advice to our Client on the validity of the claim and proposed strategy to deal with the claim. We recommended negotiations be undertaken with the Landlord and the Partner taking on the new Lease. These negotiations were to ensure a new lease could be granted and financial settlement reached between all parties for the dilapidations liabilities that would be transferred as a result of the transfer of ownership of the surgery.
We have extensive experience dealing with dilapidations claims both for landlords and tenants. Dilapidations claims are rarely straightforward so our experience enables us to provide our clients with clear bespoke advice on their liabilities and proposed strategies to comply with legal protocols.
