The Complete Office Lease-End Checklist for London Tenants
Leaving a London office is never as simple as packing up the laptops and locking the door. Between dilapidations liability, reinstatement works, utility disconnections, and the practical logistics of moving a business, tenants routinely underestimate the amount of work involved in a lease exit.
This checklist is designed to make that easier. It is built from our experience delivering lease end projects for London office tenants and covers every major workstream you should be thinking about in the 12 months before your lease expires. Use it as a planning tool, not a substitute for professional advice, and adapt it to the specifics of your lease and premises.
12 Months Before Lease End
The earlier you start, the more options you have. At this stage, the priority is understanding what you are legally committed to and building a project plan around it.
Read Your Lease Properly
Pull out the lease, any licences for alterations, and any schedules of condition. Focus on the repair, decoration, reinstatement, and yielding up clauses. If anything is ambiguous, get a solicitor or surveyor to interpret it. Do not rely on memory or informal conversations with the landlord.
Decide Whether to Renew, Break, or Leave
If your lease has a break clause, check the conditions carefully. Break clauses are unforgiving: a single missed rent payment or minor breach can invalidate the break. If you intend to leave, serve notice in accordance with the exact requirements of the clause.
Commission a Pre-Termination Survey
A specialist building surveyor can walk the premises and give you a realistic view of your dilapidations exposure. This is the single most valuable action you can take at this stage. It turns a vague anxiety into a specific number and lets you plan accordingly.
9 Months Before Lease End
By this point, you should be moving from planning into procurement. The London market for dilapidations contractors is busy, and good ones get booked up months in advance, especially around the common lease end dates of 25 March, 24 June, 29 September, and 25 December.
Get Competitive Quotes for the Works
Invite at least three specialist contractors to price the dilapidations and reinstatement works. A general fit-out contractor is not always the best choice. Look for specialists in office dilapidations who handle lease end projects week in, week out.
Understand the Scope
Make sure every contractor is pricing the same scope. Differences in assumptions about ceiling removal, floor box reinstatement, or partition demolition can produce wildly different numbers. A clear scope of works, shared with all bidders, levels the playing field.
Plan for Decant
If you are moving to new premises, coordinate the timing carefully. You want to avoid paying rent on two buildings any longer than necessary, but you also need enough time to complete the dilapidations works without being pressured into corner-cutting.
6 Months Before Lease End
You should now be finalising contractor selection and starting to deal with the landlord directly.
Appoint Your Dilapidations Contractor
Sign the contract with your chosen specialist. Make sure insurance, method statements, and RAMS are in place. A good contractor will also coordinate with the building management on access, lifts, out-of-hours working, and waste removal.
Open a Dialogue with the Landlord
Many London landlords are open to negotiation, particularly if they are planning to refurbish the space anyway. A reasonable early conversation can often convert a hostile schedule of dilapidations into a sensible financial settlement.
Begin Asset Disposal
Furniture, IT equipment, and loose items all need to be removed before works can begin. Book a clearance company or arrange resale, donation, or recycling. Keep records for accounting and sustainability reporting.
3 Months Before Lease End
The last quarter is when the physical works ramp up. Things can get stressful if earlier steps have been skipped, which is why we emphasise planning so heavily.
Start Physical Works
Dilapidations works on a typical London office take four to eight weeks. Complex reinstatements or heavy strip-outs can take longer. Starting three months out leaves a buffer for unexpected issues like asbestos discovery, structural concerns, or landlord disputes.
Coordinate Utilities
Arrange final meter readings and notify suppliers of your exit. Do not disconnect services before works are complete; your contractor will need power, water, and lighting throughout.
Handle Telecoms and IT
Cancel or port telephone lines, internet circuits, and leased connections. Some London buildings have long lead times for telecoms removal, so start this early.
1 Month Before Lease End
At this stage, the focus shifts to finishing cleanly and preparing for handback.
Final Cleaning
Once works are complete, the premises should receive a thorough end of lease clean, covering floors, windows, kitchens, WCs, and any communal elements you are responsible for.
Final Inspection
Walk the space with your surveyor and, where possible, with the landlord’s surveyor. Agree that the works have been completed to the required standard. Take extensive photographs, dated and timestamped, of every room and every element.
Snagging
Address any minor defects identified during inspection. Your contractor should return quickly to resolve these. Do not leave the premises until both sides are satisfied.
Handback Day
The day itself should be relatively anticlimactic if everything has gone to plan.
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- Return all keys, fobs, and access cards to the landlord or their agent.
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- Hand over the final O&M manuals, test certificates, and warranties for any works completed.
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- Confirm the exact time and date of handback in writing.
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- Obtain written confirmation that the landlord has taken possession.
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- Keep a comprehensive digital record of everything, indefinitely.
After Lease End
Your work is not quite over. Dilapidations claims can be served up to six years after lease expiry, though in practice most landlords raise them within six months. Keep all documentation, including quotes, invoices, photographs, and correspondence, in a well-organised file.
If a claim does arrive, respond promptly and with the help of a specialist. Do not ignore it, and do not admit liability without advice. Early engagement nearly always produces a better outcome than prolonged silence.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
Waiting Too Long
The single biggest mistake tenants make is starting too late. Six weeks is not enough time to run a competitive procurement, negotiate with the landlord, and complete physical works. Twelve months is the minimum we recommend for any meaningful London office.
Using the Wrong Contractor
A general builder can do the work, but not efficiently. Specialist dilapidations contractors understand the legal and commercial context, manage building access better, and are quicker on site, all of which translate to lower total cost.
Ignoring the Landlord’s Plans
If the landlord intends to refurbish, much of the scope of reinstatement may be unnecessary. A well-timed conversation can eliminate whole sections of the schedule.
Budgeting for the Exit
Dilapidations costs for London offices typically fall in the range of £15 to £35 per square foot, depending on the level of reinstatement required, the standard of finish, and the complexity of any tenant alterations. A 5,000 sq ft office may therefore face a total exposure of £75,000 to £175,000, and larger premises scale accordingly.
On top of the physical works, tenants should also budget for professional fees (building surveyor, M&E consultant, and potentially a project manager), clearance and removals, utility disconnections, and any overrun rent if the works take longer than planned. A sensible contingency of 10 to 15 per cent on the construction budget is standard practice.
Where Savings Come From
The biggest savings come from three things: competitive pricing, challenging the landlord’s scope, and doing the works yourself rather than paying the landlord’s preferred contractor. Getting these three elements right can easily cut a dilapidations claim in half. For more detail, our guide to lease end dilapidations planning explores each of these in depth.
How London Dilaps Can Help
We specialise in end-of-lease dilapidations and Cat A reinstatement across London. Our team handles everything from initial survey through to handback, so tenants can focus on their business rather than project managing a site. We carry £5m Public Liability and Employers’ Liability insurance, work to tight programmes, and have delivered projects across the City, Canary Wharf, the West End, and the wider London market.
Every project starts with a free site visit and a realistic scope discussion. We price only for what your lease actually requires, not the maximalist interpretation landlords often push. Where you have a schedule of dilapidations already in hand, we will review it with you and highlight areas that can be challenged or reduced.
If your lease end is within the next 12 months, now is the right time to start the conversation. Contact London Dilaps via londondilaps.com for a free, no-obligation assessment of your premises and a realistic view of what your exit will cost. The sooner you start, the more you can save, and the smoother the whole process becomes.