Why the first figure is rarely the real figure
A schedule of dilapidations is prepared by the landlord's surveyor, on the landlord's instruction, at the landlord's expense. It is an opening position in a negotiation, not an invoice. The surveyor's job at that stage is to capture every item the lease could arguably cover and cost it in full.
That is why schedules commonly include works priced at top-end contractor rates, items the tenant may not actually be liable for under the lease, and repairs the landlord has no genuine intention of carrying out. In practice, many claims settle at a substantial discount to the opening figure once they are properly tested. That does not happen automatically. It happens when the tenant pushes back with the right advice.
The Section 18 cap: the number most tenants have never heard of
The single most important protection for tenants sits in Section 18(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927. It applies to claims for disrepair and works in two ways.
First, the landlord's damages cannot exceed the amount by which the disrepair actually reduces the value of their property. If the schedule totals a large sum but the disrepair only knocks a smaller amount off what the building is worth, the smaller figure is the ceiling.
Second, if the landlord intends to demolish the property or carry out structural alterations that would make the repairs pointless, they may recover nothing for those items at all.
This matters because a schedule is built from the cost of works, while the law caps recovery at loss of value. Those are two different numbers, and the gap between them is often where a claim falls apart. If the landlord plans to strip the unit out for the next tenant anyway, much of the claim may not survive scrutiny.
The other grounds to challenge a claim
The cap is not the only lever. A tenant-side surveyor will typically test a schedule on several fronts:
- Liability. Does the lease actually oblige you to do each item claimed? Schedules often sweep in works that go beyond the repairing covenant, or ignore the condition the property was in when you took it on.
- Standard of repair. A lease usually requires repair to a reasonable standard for a building of that age and type, not renewal to new condition. Claims frequently price for betterment.
- Supersession. If the landlord's own plans for the property make certain works redundant, those items should come out.
- Costings. Rates and quantities in schedules are negotiable and often inflated. Independent costing regularly brings figures down.
If a schedule has already arrived, the sooner a tenant-side specialist looks at it, the stronger your position. We can introduce you to a surveyor who deals with dilapidations claims every week.
Outline your situation — no obligationWhat to do right now
Two mistakes cost tenants real money at this stage. The first is ignoring the schedule and hoping it goes away; it will not, and silence weakens your negotiating position. The second is paying quickly to make the problem disappear, which usually means paying the inflated opening figure.
Instead, take these steps:
- Do not admit liability or agree any figures before taking advice.
- Gather your lease, any schedule of condition from the start of the tenancy, licences for alterations, and dated photographs of the property.
- Note any deadlines in the correspondence. Dilapidations claims are expected to follow a pre-action protocol that gives you a set period to respond properly, typically 56 days.
- Get a dilapidations surveyor acting for you, not the landlord, to review the schedule against the lease and prepare a formal response.
The honest bottom line
Not every claim is inflated, and some items in a schedule will usually be legitimate. But the difference between accepting the opening figure and settling a properly tested claim is often measured in tens of thousands of pounds, against a professional fee that is a fraction of that. Whether your claim is one of them depends on your lease, your building and your landlord's plans, which is exactly what a specialist establishes early on.