Client: Dairy Council
Our client held a 25-year lease on a substantial corner property on the north side of Oxford Street, London and over the years had gradually sublet all but two floors, which they still occupied.
The client was served with a Terminal Schedule of Dilapidations totalling £500,000, which excluded their additional liability for internal common parts.
The client lost faith in their previous building surveyors around lease termination and Gerald Eve were appointed to provide expert dilapidations advice, where we assessed the current situation and provided the client with strategic advice and recommendations on how to mitigate their dilapidations liability.
In order to provide holistic advice, we liaised heavily with the client, their agent and solicitor and thereafter submitted our findings. The client agreed with our advice and we were separately appointed to negotiate a without prejudice basis with the landlord’s surveyor, to reduce the landlord’s claim.
Our strategic report had identified certain strengths (and weaknesses) in the client’s case and through our negotiations, we were able to maximise the strengths and minimise the weaknesses to reduce the claim by 64% from £500,000 down to £180,000.
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