For tenants answering a landlord's schedule
Scott Schedule: Responding to a Dilapidations Claim
Sviatoslav JerdetchiiCEO & Founder of Craftex. Updated , 5 min read
The short answer
A Scott schedule is the landlord's schedule of dilapidations with extra columns, so both sides set out their view on every item side by side. The tenant's response is usually written into it, line by line.
- Columns: item, lease clause, breach, remedy and the landlord's cost, then the tenant's comments and cost.
- Respond on the landlord's own schedule, usually within 56 days of the quantified demand.
- Challenge each line: is it in the lease, is the remedy right, is the price real?
- Flag items the landlord's own plans will supersede, and the section 18 cap on repair.
A Scott schedule is how a dilapidations claim gets argued, line by line. It starts as the landlord's schedule of dilapidations. Then extra columns are added so the tenant can set its view next to each item.
For a tenant, the Scott schedule is where money is won or lost. Every line you leave unchallenged is a line you are likely to pay.
This guide explains the columns, how to write the response and how to price each line. It is written by builders who price these schedules, not lawyers. We prepare a priced dilapidations response with our own RICS-qualified quantity surveyor, then negotiate it and can do the works. Holding a schedule now? Get your schedule priced.
What a Scott schedule is
RICS defines a Scott schedule as a schedule of dilapidations with additional columns. The extra columns let both sides record their positions on each item in one document.
The format is not special to dilapidations. Courts use Scott schedules in building disputes too, wherever many small items are argued. In dilapidations it grows out of three documents:
- The schedule of dilapidations. The landlord's list of breaches, the works it says are needed and, usually, its costs.
- The quantified demand. The landlord's claim for money, based on the schedule, with any other losses and the VAT position.
- The response. The tenant's answer, written into the landlord's own schedule, which turns it into a Scott schedule.
The Dilapidations Protocol asks the landlord to send the schedule electronically. That way the tenant's comments can go into the same document, not a separate letter.
The columns: item, claim, response, cost
The Protocol gives a standard form. The landlord fills the first five columns. The tenant adds its own.
| Column | Filled by | What goes in it |
|---|---|---|
| Item number | Landlord | A unique reference for each line |
| Lease clause | Landlord | The covenant said to be broken, often quoted |
| Breach complained of | Landlord | What is wrong, where |
| Remedial works | Landlord | What the landlord says must be done |
| Landlord's cost | Landlord | The price for those works |
| Tenant's comments | Tenant | Agreed, disputed or not a breach, with reasons |
| Tenant's cost | Tenant | The tenant's price for the works it accepts |
| Agreed figure | Both | Filled in as items settle |
Many schedules also carry a column for supersession. That flags items the landlord's own plans will make pointless.
A long schedule can run to hundreds of lines. Group them by area or trade before you start. It makes the pricing faster and the meetings shorter.
Writing the tenant's response
The Protocol says the tenant should usually respond within 56 days after the landlord sends the quantified demand. The response should go on the landlord's schedule, in enough detail for the landlord to understand the tenant's view on each item.
Work through every line with four questions:
- Is it in the lease? Check the clause quoted. Does it really require this item, in this standard?
- Is it a breach? Compare the premises with their state at the start. A schedule of condition can settle this.
- Is the remedy right? The landlord may ask for replacement where repair would do. That is betterment, not repair.
- Is the price real? A rate nobody has tested is an opening position, not a cost.
Superseded items
Some items will never be done. If the landlord plans to strip out or refurbish, repairs to what it removes are lost anyway. The Protocol asks the tenant to say so in the response, give the evidence and name the items.
The endorsement
The response is endorsed by the tenant or its surveyor. The endorsement confirms the works listed are all that were reasonably required. It also confirms the costs are reasonably payable, and that the landlord's likely intentions were taken into account.
Pricing each line
This is where most tenant responses are weakest. A surveyor's view that an item is "excessive" carries less weight than a builder's price for the real work.
RICS lists the sources a schedule can be costed from. They include invoices, tender results, price books, recent tender prices, a quantity surveyor and a contractor's input. The strongest answer to a high rate is a lower rate that someone will actually build for. Our guide to how a schedule of dilapidations is costed shows the usual cost lines.
| Landlord's line | Common challenge | What makes it stick |
|---|---|---|
| Replace all ceiling tiles | Replace only the damaged ones | Photos and a count |
| Redecorate throughout | Lease asks for decoration only in the last year | The clause wording |
| Remove partitions and reinstate | Landlord agreed they could stay | The licence or a letter |
| Replace carpet | Carpet was worn when let | The schedule of condition |
| High preliminaries and fees | Scope is smaller than priced | A contractor's priced breakdown |
Our own RICS-qualified quantity surveyor prices each line from current builders' rates. Because our own crews do the work, the figure is one we will build for. Already holding a contractor's quote for the works? Send it to us. We'll beat it.
The section 18 cap
For repair items, section 18(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 caps damages. They cannot exceed the fall in the value of the landlord's interest. Repairs the landlord will demolish or structurally alter cannot be claimed at all.
The cap does not cover decoration, removal or reinstatement in the same way. So split the schedule by category before you argue it. The Protocol already asks the landlord to separate repair, reinstatement and redecoration.
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From Scott schedule to settlement
Once the response is in, the Protocol expects both sides to meet, generally within 28 days. The meeting is without prejudice. Its aim is to agree as many items as possible.
Each meeting shrinks the schedule. Agreed figures go into the last column. The disputed items left are usually the expensive ones: the big strip-outs, the plant and the fees.
There are two ways to finish:
- Cash settlement. You pay an agreed sum and the landlord does any works. This suits a tenant who has already left.
- Works by the tenant. You carry out the agreed items before handback. This suits a tenant with time and access before the lease ends.
Either way, the agreed figure should be one you can check against a real price. One team, one point of contact: we price the schedule, negotiate it with your landlord and, if it costs less, do the works. Want the schedule priced first? Get your schedule priced.
Before you send your Scott schedule response
- Read the lease, every licence for alterations and any schedule of condition.
- Check the quantified demand date and diarise the 56 days.
- Group the schedule by area or trade.
- Answer every line: in the lease, a breach, the right remedy, the right price.
- Flag superseded items with evidence.
- Split repair from decoration and reinstatement for the section 18 cap.
- Get a builder's price for every line you accept.
