THE CHALLENGE

• A company in voluntary administration faced dilapidations claims totalling in excess of £250,000 across three quasi-retail units and a warehouse, previously occupied as a heating, plumbing and bathroom supplies operation and owned by two separate landlords.
• The administrators were obligated to mitigate the company's liabilities and required specialist valuation advice to assess whether the landlords' claims were reasonable and justified — specifically, whether the cost of dilapidations exceeded the diminution in value of the properties, as governed by Section 18 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927.

THE SOLUTION

• LSH’s Cambridge office, led by Rob Harrison, was referred to the administrators following input from its Building Consultancy division — bringing together valuation and building consultancy expertise in a coordinated response. LSH prepared individual, tailored valuation reports for each of the three properties, establishing the value of each asset in its existing condition and on the assumption of full repair, thereby demonstrating the extent to which the landlords' claims exceeded the Section 18 cap.

THE RESULTS

• Based on LSH's valuation advice, the administrators were able to settle two of the three claims at a combined figure of £110,000 and successfully defend the third claim in its entirety — saving the client £140,000 against the landlords' original claims. A direct and quantifiable outcome of LSH's specialist diminution in value advice.