Commercial · The Lease
The condition you inherited.
A schedule of condition annexed to the lease caps what a tenant can be asked to put right at the end of it. Walking a shop unit is the same skill as walking a flat. What changes is the money riding on the document.
- Schedule from
- £450
- Interim from
- £250
- Exit from
- £350
- Basis
- Day rate
The Ladder · Four Records
Priced on a day rate, not a room count.
Commercial prices are shown plus VAT. Every one is quoted in writing before we attend, and the quote is the invoice.
Before the lease
FlagshipSchedule of Condition
A dated photographic record of the unit as the tenant takes it on, annexed to the lease by their solicitor.
It caps the tenant's dilapidations liability at the condition they actually inherited. That is why it is worth what it is worth.
We record the condition. We do not draft or advise on the lease.
Incoming tenant
During
Interim Inspection
A periodic walk of the unit during the term, checking the tenant is keeping to the repairing covenants.
Landlords who never look until the last month are the ones who end up in a dispute they cannot evidence.
Landlord · annual
Lease end
Exit Record
The unit walked again at lease end, against the original schedule. Changes appended, never rewritten.
Not a dilapidations schedule. That names breaches, cites clauses and prices remedies as a legal claim: building surveyor and solicitor work. We supply the facts it is built on.
Either party
Ongoing
RecurringVacant Property Visits
Short dated visits to an empty unit. Security, water, heating, signs of entry, damage. Photographed and logged.
Unoccupied property cover usually carries an inspection condition. Miss the interval and the insurer can decline the claim.
Owner · contracted
EXH 007 · Sales floor · lease start
The Repairing Covenant
Hand it back as you found it, not better.
Most commercial leases carry a full repairing covenant. Read literally, it obliges the tenant to return the unit in good repair whatever state it was in on day one. A tenant who takes a tired unit without a schedule can be billed at the end for the landlord’s deferred maintenance.
A schedule of condition annexed to the lease limits the obligation to the condition recorded. On a five-year lease of a high-street unit that limit is routinely worth more than the schedule costs many times over. The guide on dilapidations explains what happens without one.
01
Instruct
Send the unit address, the lease start or end date, and who the schedule is for. We quote a day rate in writing within 24 hours.
02
Walk
Every element of every area, inside and out: shopfront, glazing, floors, ceilings, services, WCs, yard, roof where it can be seen. Photographed with an exhibit number per line.
03
Deliver
A dated PDF the next working day, formatted for annexing to the lease, with the photograph appendix. Your solicitor sends it to the other side.
Who Instructs Us
Three people, one document.
The incoming tenant
Usually on their solicitor's advice: get a schedule of condition annexed to the lease before you sign, or the repairing covenant means handing the unit back better than you found it.
Schedule of conditionThe landlord or their agent
An interim inspection during the term, so a breach of the repairing covenant is evidenced while there is still time to serve notice on it, rather than argued about at the end.
Interim inspectionsThe solicitor
Property solicitors instruct us on behalf of either side. A dated, photographed schedule in a format the other side's solicitor can read is what gets annexed without argument.
See the report formatAsked & answered.
Most commercial leases contain a full repairing covenant, which on its own obliges the tenant to hand the unit back in good repair regardless of how they found it. A schedule of condition annexed to the lease limits that: the tenant is only obliged to return the unit in the condition the schedule records. Without one, a tenant taking on a tired unit can be asked to pay for putting right things that were wrong before they arrived.
No. A schedule of condition records condition, with photographs and dates, and takes no view on the lease. A schedule of dilapidations is a legal claim at the end of a lease: it names breaches, cites the clauses and prices the remedies, and is prepared by a building surveyor and served by a solicitor. We produce the factual record that either side's dilapidations argument is built on. See the guide on dilapidations for the full distinction.
On a day rate, not a room count, because a shop unit is a different kind of document from a flat. A small retail or office unit starts at from £450 plus VAT for the schedule of condition; an interim inspection from from £250 plus VAT; an exit record from from £350 plus VAT; vacant property visits from from £75 plus VAT per visit. Larger units are quoted on the floor area and the number of separate areas.
It is strongest when it is. The usual route is that the tenant's solicitor sends our schedule to the landlord's solicitor before completion and both sides agree it is annexed. We write it plainly and photograph everything so that there is little to argue with. If the other side wants a walk-through, we attend.
Within the week, usually sooner, and we understand that a completion date is often fixed. Tell us the date and we will work back from it. The report is with you the next working day after the visit.
Yes. Unoccupied commercial property cover usually requires an inspection every 7, 14 or 30 days, with the visits evidenced. We visit on the interval your policy sets, photograph and log each one, and keep the log running so it can be produced to the insurer on request.
Read Before You Sign
Worth ten minutes.
A schedule of condition on a commercial lease: what it does, and what it doesn't
How a schedule of condition caps a tenant's repairing liability, why the solicitor asks for it, what an interim and an exit record add, and what it is not.
ReadDilapidations explained: what a claim is, and how to cap it
What a dilapidations claim is, when it arrives, the protocol it follows, and why a schedule of condition at the start is the cheapest defence there is.
ReadCommercial EPCs: what a non-domestic certificate is, and who can do one
Non-domestic EPCs work differently from the home version: three assessment levels, a different qualification, and an E minimum that already applies to existing commercial leases.
ReadBefore you sign.
Tell us the unit, the lease date and who the schedule is for. Written day rate within 24 hours.
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