Dilapidations, or the liability for a property's state of disrepair, has received much attention so far this year. In May, the Property Litigation Association issued an updated version of its Dilapidations Protocol and this week the RICS has published a guidance note on dilapidations. So why the sudden burst of activity? At its core is the issue of fraud. More particularly, the exaggeration, or even fabrication, of a landlord's claims for breaches of repairing obligations by tenants, aided and abetted by the landlord's surveyor through the schedule of dilapidations. But the surveying profession has decided the time has come to clean up its act and to remind the members of their duty ' to advance only those claims that they would stand by in a court action.
展开▼
