What you need to know about site closure and end of tenancy

When a property has come to the end of the tenancy, a move or unfortunately a closure certain processes need to be carried out and completed before the final hand over of the keys.  CBS Group works closely with our clients providing full or part project management.

By providing a bespoke service based on our client requirements, we make sure that all needs are met, including working with third party subcontractors.  

Who do we provide the closure and end of tenancy services for?

• Warehouse
• Factory
• Commercial
• Restaurants & Bars
• Shopping Centres
• Office
• Gyms 
• Houses, bungalows, flats and listed buildings
• Housing associations
• Places of education

No matter what the location or number of sites, we offer a fully insured and qualified, to industry standard, service.  Having over 50 years of combined industry experience, we ensure that your personal and company standards are met.

Here are some of the areas to be considered when a lease ends and handing back the property?

• Confirm with the landlord what the schedule of dilapidations are – This document states what parts of the property needs to be repaired as signed for in the tenancy agreement.  This can range from refilling holes where fixtures have been to property mistreatment.
• Check the licence of alterations – Absolute (Wave a Clause), Qualified (Give consent) or Fully Qualified Covenant (Cannot reasonably withhold consent.  Is there a requirement to remove any of the alterations that you have done to the premises before handing back to the landlord.
• Keys can be handed back by yourself or we can do it for you.  The landlord is entitled to charge you for replacements if the keys are not returned. As soon as you know the key hand back date for the premises, you can work out the timeline necessary to get the closure completed within the timeframe.

Once these points have been considered, you can then formulate a scope of works for the closure.  Other elements to consider would be:

• Health and safety needed and any local authority permits and access required.
• Covid 19 – The new procedures will also need to be considered and can consist of a site deep clean and sanitisation before the works commence.

Once our closure team are on site they would set up a safe system of works and begin the closure which can consist of any of the following:

• Removal of walls or partitions
• False ceilings
• Removal of all mechanical and electrical systems
• Removal of any bespoke built-in fixtures and fittings for either relocation or waste
• Painting and decorating to be made good and painted to return to a white box
• Removal of internal and external signage including window manifestations and branded goods, such as branded door handles
• On completion of the closure, we can carry out additional checks for security on all windows and doors 

We also offer compliance for the following, which some landlords require before the keys are returned:

• Fire alarm test and certification 
• Emergency light test and certification
• Electrical installation condition reports (EICR)
• Service any hvac (Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning)
• Deep clean

Final Handover

Once all the processes have been completed, we would meet the client on site for a final hand over.  This process can consist of:

• Complete photo audit of the site – internal and external and show the final look of the premises
• Recorded water, electric and gas metre readings and photographic evidence if applicable for any current or future billing enquiries
• Isolate all non essential circuits to the building
• Isolate gas and water
• Any service or inspection records to be placed in the site folder for handover.  This allows a quick reference for the landlord and ease of finding what they are looking for
• We also provide a deep clean and sanitisation service to make sure the premises meets the landlords standards for the new tenancy
• We aim to provide our clients with a positive experience in all areas of the business they use.  Sometimes our teams have a challenging but rewarding environment to work in, but we can achieve the end result by matching the best team for the project.

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