Breach of Covenant to Repair

[inform]

Our tenant's Lease will end in December 06 and he wishes to renew which we are happy about. We have had a schedule of dilapidations done on the premises which shows that the tenant has not done one bit of maintenance work on the premises throughout the entire tenancy (he has a FRI lease). We have been advised by the surveyor to serve the schedule unpriced prior to issuing Section 25 to guage his response. My question is, do we need a solicitor to serve a Notice of Breach of covenant to repair on him at this stage. If not what approach should be taken at this early stage as I was under the impression that a Notice of this kind isn't usually served until the lease actually expires. Although we have a surveyor who is negotiating the Lease renewal on our behalf, he has said that he cannot serve the Schedule However we do not want to incurr uneccessary legals costs of £200 per hour plus VAT if it is something we can do ourselves. In short, when we send the tenant the Schedule do we send it with an official Notice or just a covering letter asking him politely to meet his obligations.

Hope you can help and thanks

Inform

[propman2]

ask your solicitor, the initial cost saved could cost you in the long run

your surveyor and solicitor should advise you

[SteveP]

The first thing I would say is listen to your surveyor. He understands the circumstances, the disrepair, and the relative advantages of different approaches.
However, if you do serve a schedule then have it served by a solicitor because a failure to properly serve may cost you a great deal more later than you will save by penny pinching now.
I get the impression that you have either not fully discussed tactics with your surveyor or have not understood the advice he has given you. It may not be in your best interests to serve a schedule at all.
Talk to your surveyor again and make sure you understand what he is advising you to do.

[inform]

Thak you for your comments, much appreciated. It was in fact our surveyor who suggested to send an "unpriced Schedule to guage the tenants response" in view of renewing his lease as he has a very bad track record. It is not about penny pinching, we are aware of all the issues. We contacted our surveyor back in November and we have only just received the Schedule without knowing what direction we should be going in. We have infact contacted a solicitor to draw up a new Lease but he needs proof of identity from the landlords (there are 4 of us) and two are in Spain for a month which will delay things further. The Notice 25 has to be issued by early June and we haven't even begun the negotiatons yet. I am only trying to think one step ahead and keep this moving. We do not want to scare the tenant off by serving a Notice for breach of covenant to repair since the Schedule is quite onerous when it could be negotiated on an informal basis but perhaps I am just being naive and will heed your advice.

Thank you and didn't mean to offend the solicitors out there, we just don't have the financial means to run up legal bill which have already amounted to quite a hefty sum.

Inform

[SteveP]

I think I understand better where you are coming from now.

My comments should not surplant your surveyors advice. I'd be pretty annoyed if another chartered surveyor who did not know all of the facts contradicted my advice, so take his advice not mine.

I have not seen your lease. However, if the tenant will remain responsible for the present dilapidations when he renews the lease and you don't want to scare him off then you may not want him to be told of the extent of your potential claim at all at this stage. In those circumstances I have sometimes suggested clients serve (themselves, no solicitors involved) an informal list of repairs that are required immediately (in essence those repairs which, if left unfixed, will cause the property to deteriorate). Such a list is frequently much less onerous and a tenant wanting to renew is more likely to do the work (if you make it clear that you won't renew unless the work is done).