Tenants enter commercial leases agreeing to keep premises in repair; if they do not, the law of dilapidations applies. Landlords have the ability to serve a schedule of dilapidations on a tenant either during or more commonly at the end of the lease, itemising the breaches of covenant. Remedies for the landlord will be for the tenant to undertake the specified works or for them to seek to recover from the tenant the cost of making good the disrepair. Dilapidations occur primarily at the end of a lease, and often disputes arise between landlords and tenants as to their extent, and in order to reach a conclusion this inevitably leads to an appraisal of past case law which stems over 100 years. In an economic downturn dilapidations are also commonplace either during a lease term or if the tenant exercises a break clause. Most dilapidations are settled by negotiation, but other methods exist in demonstrating loss suffered by a landlord such as a diminution valuation. Landlords and tenants will normally be advised by a specialist surveyor or property consultant.