Most guides on dilapidations avoid numbers. Here are realistic UK cost ranges for each stage of a claim, and what actually drives the price.
Search for dilapidations advice and you'll find plenty of explanations of the process, but very few sites will tell you what any of it actually costs. That's usually because cost depends heavily on the specifics of a case. Even so, there are typical ranges worth knowing before you instruct anyone.
A surveyor reviews the schedule and your lease and gives you an honest assessment of your position. This is usually the first and cheapest step, and often the most valuable, since it tells you whether you're looking at a straightforward negotiation or a genuine dispute.
Your surveyor responds formally to the schedule and negotiates on your behalf. Most dilapidations matters are resolved at this stage without ever reaching a formal dispute.
Where the parties can't agree, the dispute moves to an item-by-item comparison document (a Scott Schedule), often alongside solicitors on both sides. This is the most expensive stage and is usually avoidable with earlier advice.
For landlords, a surveyor inspects the property, produces the schedule, and gathers the supporting evidence needed to make the claim stand up if it's challenged.
Three things matter more than anything else: the size and complexity of the property, how far apart the two sides are on the figures, and how late professional advice gets involved. A dispute that could have been a £2,000 negotiation often becomes a £10,000 formal dispute simply because both sides waited too long to bring in the right advice.
Whatever a surveyor costs, weigh it against the size of the claim you're facing. On a £30,000 schedule, professional advice that reduces the final figure by even 20 to 30 percent, which is common, pays for itself many times over.
Whether you're a tenant who's received a claim or a landlord preparing one, the right specialist advice early changes the outcome.
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