Pre-lease Condition Survey of an Industrial Unit
Before signing the lease, an incoming tenant commissioned a technical record of the condition of a 1,320 m² industrial unit in Baix Llobregat (Barcelona province). The aim: to document the property's pre-existing defects so as not to be liable at lease end for damage that already existed before entry.
The assignment
Before signing the lease, an incoming tenant commissioned a technical record of the condition of a 1,320 m² industrial unit in Baix Llobregat (Barcelona province). The aim: to document the property's pre-existing defects so as not to be liable at lease end for damage that already existed before entry.
The technical investigation
Visual technical inspection of the whole unit —928 m² at ground floor and 392 m² of first-floor offices— and functional testing of the building services. Each element was assessed against its governing regulation and its maintenance status, distinguishing a genuine defect from acceptable wear.
The expert report
The inspection graded the severity of the pre-existing defects. Functional shortfalls: emergency lighting that failed to operate correctly or lacked autonomy (a breach of means-of-escape conditions); hose reels and extinguishers without a current annual service record (operability not guaranteed under RIPCI); a deck-type roof with active water ingress —staining, tide marks and efflorescence on the suspended ceiling—, the item with the greatest cost exposure; and degraded weather seals to the office glazing. Against these, a cracked façade cladding panel was scoped as strictly cosmetic, compromising neither fixing nor weathertightness: scoping a defect down matters as much as flagging a serious one.
The outcome
The report fixes the condition of the property at a certain date and allocates maintenance responsibilities between landlord and tenant before signing. The fire-protection and emergency-lighting shortfalls are documented as pre-existing, not attributable to the incoming tenant; the roof water ingress as an item to resolve before entry. It is a preventive, recurring tool for companies leasing or handing back units, industrial asset managers and their advisers, and applies equally to the periodic certification of a unit's condition across its service life.
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