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5 Reasons why Dilapidation Surveys are Important
Dilapidation surveys protecting your roof investment, ensuring compliance and safety standards, and accurate repair and maintenance planning.
When it comes to the effective management of commercial property, dilapidation surveys are crucial for buildings and rooftops. Whether you’re a building owner, roofing contractor or specifier, a detailed dilapidations survey is a key component of a maintenance and repair strategy. We look at the importance of the dilapidations report and why building owners and tenants must be kept informed of any necessary works.
1. Protecting Your Roof Investment
Regular dilapidations surveys help to identify early signs of damage and deterioration in a roofing system. By acting on these findings, building owners and tenants can save significant repair costs in the long run, and they can also extend the lifespan of the roof. A full roof replacement is costly, therefore, a timely response to a survey report is always essential.
A dilapidation survey is essential for lease management, ensuring tenants comply with their obligations to maintain or repair a property, including the roof. Preventative maintenance that arises from a dilapidations survey being carried out will help to protect the overall investment value. In a volatile economic market, a well-maintained building will hold its property value.
2. Ensuring Compliance and Safety Standards
Commercial property is not only an investment, but there is a legal obligation to maintain the building in terms of health and safety. If the structure is located in a shared or public space, commercial landlords will need to adhere to a preventative maintenance schedule.
A dilapidation survey will verify whether a roof meets the necessary building regulations, as well as the expected health and safety standards. This is crucial for avoiding penalties and ensuring a safe working environment for building occupants. For more information, see the RICS guidance for dilapidations in England and Wales.
3. Facilitating Accurate Repair & Maintenance Planning
A comprehensive dilapidations survey report provides detailed data for budgeting and scheduling repairs. Preventative maintenance is the key for effective budget management, as well as keeping the building in a good condition. This enables small issues to be spotted and rectified before they become larger and costlier problems. Survey reports ensure that any areas of concern can be monitored regularly throughout the lifespan of the lease.
By responding to survey data, simple repairs can be pre-planned and factored into budgets. Consider cut edge corrosion treatments, profiled metal roof coatings and asbestos cement coatings to help streamline maintenance plans and reduce unexpected costs in the future.
4. Mitigating Disputes through Clear Documentation
Dilapidations surveys provide essential information that can help to resolve disputes over repair responsibilities between tenants, contractors, and building owners. Landlords benefit from survey reports by gaining clarity on whether they need to enforce repair works. It gives tenants the ability to assess any necessary works to comply with end-of-lease repairs.
Where there are break clauses that could allow lease termination, survey reports also provide tenants with a clear understanding of their liabilities. There are various forms of detailed documentation that are based on survey reports. This includes the Schedule of Dilapidations outlining lease/tenancy obligations, Diminution Valuations to value any breaches, the Dilapidations Protocol for damage claims, and Response documents.
5. Enhancing Long-Term Financial Planning
Regular surveys and timely repairs can significantly lower long-term maintenance costs by providing a clear overview of future repair needs and investment requirements. This enables building owners to estimate costs for preventative maintenance well in advance, so they can plan ahead in terms of repairs and refurbishment. By observing and responding to survey report findings, landlords and tenants can keep commercial property in a good condition.
A well-maintained roof on a commercial building adds to the overall property resale value, making it more attractive as an investment opportunity. A dilapidations survey helps to mitigate risk, time and costs to ensure both the building and roof stay structurally sound.
Conclusion
When it comes to dilapidations, regular roof surveys will ensure health and safety for the building occupants and regulatory compliance. Survey reports include essential information and data for maintenance and budgeting for scheduled repairs to prevent water ingress and potential building damage. They also underpin important dilapidations documentation to help building owners, tenants and contractors resolve disputes relating to repair responsibilities.
By carrying out dilapidation surveys and taking a proactive approach to maintenance, you can spot the early signs of damage before they become major issues. Any potential problems can be factored into maintenance budgets to help minimise the cost of repairs. Protecting the building’s roof will enable you to maintain the property value, which preserves the investment value and avoids costly roof replacements.
Giromax® products have been designed for durability and to protect the roof surface. Our coating formulas provide weather resistance and UV protection for various roof substrates, including metal profiled roof sheets and asbestos cement roof tiles. We also offer a highly durable and flexible coating to protect guttering systems.
For more information about roof maintenance for dilapidations and how we can help, call 01455 558969 or email: sales.orders@giromax.co.uk
Sources:
https://www.rics.org/content/dam/ricsglobal/documents/standards/September_2016_Dilapidations_In_England_And_Wales_7th_Edition.pdf
https://commercialbuildingsurveyors.co.uk/9-reasons-why-a-dilapidation-survey-is-essential/
https://baileypartnership.co.uk/building-surveys-protect-your-investment/
https://timgreenwood-associates.co.uk/news/dilapidations-survey-checklist/
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5 Reasons why Dilapidation Surveys are Important
Managing Director
When it comes to the effective management of commercial property, dilapidation surveys are crucial for buildings and rooftops. Whether you’re a building owner, roofing contractor or specifier, a detailed dilapidations survey is a key component of a maintenance and repair strategy. We look at the importance of the dilapidations report and why building owners and tenants must be kept informed of any necessary works.
