Guide · Leases · UK
Repair is where catering leases turn expensive, usually at the end. Here is what you actually signed up to repair, how a claim arrives, and how to limit the bill.
Repair is where catering leases turn expensive, and it usually happens at the end, long after the terms were agreed and forgotten. Understanding what you have actually signed up to repair, and what a landlord can claim if you don't, is the difference between a clean exit and a bill that can exceed a year's rent. This is general guidance rather than legal advice, and your own lease should be read by a solicitor or surveyor.
In a commercial catering lease the repair obligation is contractual, not statutory. There is no general safety net that makes the landlord responsible for the structure, as there is in a residential tenancy. What you must repair is defined by the covenant in your lease and by how the property is described in it. If the lease demises the whole building, you may be taking on the roof, the foundations and the external fabric. If it demises only part, you are usually responsible for the interior while the landlord recovers structural and common-area costs through a service charge. Reading the definition of the property is the first and most consequential check.
What the covenant demands
The exact verbs in the repair clause carry real financial weight. A duty to "keep in repair" has long been held to include putting the property into repair first if it is not already, so inheriting a tired kitchen does not excuse you from restoring it. When the clause adds "and condition," the obligation widens further and can require works even where nothing has actually fallen into disrepair. Fair wear and tear exemptions exist but are narrow, and they rarely cover the items that drive the largest claims. Assuming that leaving the place clean and tidy discharges your duty is one of the most common and costly misreadings.
Because the wording governs, two leases on similar units can impose very different burdens. This is exactly why a schedule of condition, agreed at the start and annexed to the lease, is so valuable: it fixes the standard you will be held to and stops historic defects being loaded onto you later.
How a claim actually arrives
At or near the end of the lease, the landlord's surveyor typically serves a schedule of dilapidations, itemising every alleged breach of the repair, decoration and reinstatement covenants with a cost against each. There are three kinds: an interim schedule served during the term, a terminal schedule at or near expiry, and a final schedule that converts the claim into a financial demand once actual costs are known. Receiving one is the start of a negotiation, not a final bill. Most claims settle for considerably less than the opening figure, and there is an established protocol governing how the process should run, including a quantified demand from the landlord and a reasoned response from you. Keeping your own records, including evidence of maintenance carried out during the lease, strengthens your position considerably.
Limiting the damage
A crucial protection sits in statute: damages for dilapidations are capped at the diminution in the value of the landlord's interest, so a claim cannot exceed the actual loss in the reversion. If the landlord intends to redevelop or substantially alter the property, that can reduce or even extinguish a claim, because works you failed to do would have been overridden anyway. The tenants who fare best are those who start thinking about exit liabilities well before the final months, carry out known repairs at their own pace, and document everything, since doing the work directly is almost always cheaper than paying damages. For a catering unit, extraction and grease-prone areas are common line items, so keeping them maintained and evidenced throughout is both a compliance habit and a dilapidations defence.
Questions
It depends entirely on the lease wording. The obligation is contractual, not statutory, so there is no automatic landlord duty over the structure. If the lease demises the whole building you may cover structure and exterior; if only part, usually the interior, with structural costs recovered via service charge.
A duty to keep in repair generally includes putting the property into repair if it is not already. Adding 'and condition' widens the obligation and can require works even where nothing has actually fallen into disrepair, so the exact verbs matter financially.
A landlord's document, usually prepared by a surveyor, listing alleged breaches of your repair, decoration and reinstatement covenants with a cost against each. It can be served during the term (interim), at exit (terminal) or afterward (final). Receiving one starts a negotiation rather than fixing a final bill.
Yes. Statute caps damages at the diminution in the value of the landlord's interest, so a claim cannot exceed the real loss in the reversion. If the landlord plans to redevelop, that can reduce or extinguish the claim entirely.
Agree a schedule of condition at the start, carry out known repairs during the term at your own pace rather than paying damages later, keep documented evidence of maintenance, and start planning exit liabilities well before the final months. Extraction and grease areas are common claim items worth evidencing.
Phoenix Duct Clean · by the numbers
Documented extraction and deep-clean maintenance keeps grease-prone areas off your final bill. Talk to us about a schedule that builds your evidence trail.