A dilapidations dispute is an argument about time. What condition was the property in when the tenant took it on, and what condition is it in now, and who pays the difference. Both ends of that argument rest on a surveyor's record: a schedule of condition at the start, photographed and dated, and a schedule of dilapidations at the end, measured against the lease covenants. Undated photos and a schedule reconstructed at the desk are exactly what the other side's surveyor picks apart. So the real question about a schedule of condition app is whether it captures the evidence, timestamped, while you are standing in the room.
Guide · Professional Services
Schedule of condition and dilapidations app, UK.
A practical guide to recording a schedule of condition at lease start and the dilapidations evidence at lease end, from paper and generic audit apps to a WhatsApp workflow. Photograph and date every element on site, so the record holds when the claim comes.
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The point
The app does not win the claim.
The surveyor's schedule and a dated photo record do. An app just makes each element easier to capture on site, harder to miss a room, and faster to turn into the schedule. A good tool means the state of the property is photographed and dated where you stand, so a landlord or tenant cannot later dispute what was there at the start.
Two ends of a lease
The record has two jobs.
Lease start
Schedule of condition
A dated, photographed record of the property's state when the tenant takes it on, usually annexed to the lease. It caps the tenant's repairing liability to that condition.
Lease endDilapidations schedule
A schedule of the disrepair the tenant must put right against the lease covenants, priced as the landlord's claim at or before lease expiry.
The frameworkProtocol and 1954 Act
The Dilapidations Protocol governs the claim process; the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 and section 18 bear on damages. Not legal advice; take it on each matter.
The evidence
Date and photograph every element.
A dilapidations dispute is a dispute about condition over time. The schedule of condition at the start is what caps the liability, and it is only as strong as its photographs and their dates. Capture each element on site, timestamped, room by room. A record made at the desk weeks later, with undated images, is the record that gets picked apart.
Run schedules on WhatsApp
No app install. No training.
Surveyors use the phone they already have. Text, voice note or photo. The schedule generates itself. Setup to first live workflow usually takes under a week.
The short version
- A schedule of condition records a property's state at lease start; a dilapidations schedule records the disrepair the tenant must put right at lease end.
- The schedule of condition, usually annexed to the lease, caps the tenant's repairing liability to the recorded condition.
- The Dilapidations Protocol governs the claims process, and section 18 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 caps damages at the loss in the landlord's reversion.
- The evidence that decides a dispute is dated, timestamped photographs of each element, captured on site rather than reconstructed later.
- Per-report pricing beats per-seat for firms with a mix of field and office staff, because adding people is free.
- The app captures the record and speeds the schedule. It does not replace the surveyor's judgement or give legal advice on a claim.
The point
What a schedule of condition app is for
A schedule of condition is a factual record of a commercial property's state at a point in time, usually when a tenant takes on a lease, often annexed to the lease itself. Its purpose is to cap the tenant's repairing obligation: the tenant need not hand the property back in better condition than the schedule records. A dilapidations schedule is the mirror image at lease end, listing the breaches of the repairing, decorating and reinstatement covenants that the landlord claims against.
The app does not win the claim. The surveyor's schedule and a dated photo record do. What the app does is make each element easier to capture on site, harder to miss, and faster to turn into the schedule. A record photographed and dated in the room is the record that holds when the dispute comes.
The framework
The Protocol, the 1954 Act and section 18
Dilapidations in England and Wales sit inside a framework. The lease covenants set what the tenant must do; the Dilapidations Protocol, part of the Civil Procedure Rules, governs how a terminal claim is prepared and served. The Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 governs business-tenancy renewal and can bear on whether a claim is worth pursuing. Section 18(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 caps damages at the diminution in the value of the landlord's reversion, which is why a claim is not simply the cost of the works.
These are the reasons the underlying record has to be precise and dated. Quickler captures that record; it does not interpret the covenants, value the reversion or advise on a claim. This is general information, not legal advice. Take advice on each matter and check the current Protocol and statute.
The evidence
Dated photographs are the whole case
Everything in a dilapidations matter turns on evidence of condition over time. The schedule of condition at lease start is what caps the liability, and its strength is entirely in its photographs and their dates. If the images are undated, or the schedule was written up weeks after the visit from a folder that could have been taken any time, the other side's surveyor has an opening.
Quickler timestamps every photo at the moment it is taken and ties it to the element and room it records, building the schedule in order as the surveyor walks. The result is a dated, ordered evidence trail: who inspected, which property, every element, when. It records the condition; it does not decide the repairing liability, and it is not legal advice.
On site versus office
Capture the state in the room
A schedule of condition reconstructed at the desk is a weaker document than one built on site. Photos lose their place, elements get missed, and the dates drift from the day of the visit. In a matter that may be argued years later, that drift is what a surveyor on the other side is paid to find.
Quickler lets the surveyor dictate each element as a voice note or a line of text, room by room, with the dated photo attached there and then. You leave the property with the schedule substantially built and every image timestamped. It does not replace your judgement about condition or covenant; it captures the factual record while you are standing in front of it.
Pricing
Per report, not per seat
Most survey apps charge per seat. For a building surveying or dilapidations practice that is the wrong shape: the office manager who reads one schedule a month pays the same as the surveyor who files four a week, and every associate you add costs more.
Quickler charges per report, with unlimited users on every bundle. Bundles run from Quickler 50 at 50 pounds a month for 50 reports, up to Quickler 500 at 500 pounds a month for 500 reports. Add as many surveyors, consultants, managers and admins as you like; you pay for the schedules you file, not the people who could file them. Pricing is approximate and shifts, so check the current pricing page before you commit.
Questions, answered
What is a schedule of condition app?
It is a tool that helps a surveyor record a property's condition on site and produce a schedule: element by element, room by room, with dated photographs. Used at lease start for a schedule of condition and at lease end for a dilapidations schedule. Options range from paper and dictation, to generic audit apps, to conversation-based tools like Quickler that run the survey over WhatsApp so there is no app to install.
What is the difference between a schedule of condition and a dilapidations schedule?
A schedule of condition records the state of a property at a point in time, usually lease start, and is often annexed to the lease to cap the tenant's repairing liability. A dilapidations schedule lists the breaches of the lease covenants that the landlord claims the tenant must put right, usually at or after lease end. The first is a factual baseline; the second is a claim measured against it.
What law governs dilapidations claims?
In England and Wales the lease covenants set the obligations, the Dilapidations Protocol under the Civil Procedure Rules governs how a terminal claim is prepared, and section 18(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 caps damages at the diminution in the landlord's reversion. The Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 governs business-tenancy renewal. This is general information, not legal advice; take advice on each matter and check the current Protocol and statute.
Can I record a schedule of condition over WhatsApp?
Yes. Quickler's workflow runs over the WhatsApp Business API. The surveyor receives each prompt in their existing WhatsApp chat, records each element with text, a voice note and a dated photo, and the completed schedule generates automatically. No separate app or login is required, and Quickler manages the WhatsApp Business API account on the firm's behalf.