The age old remedy of Distraint for Rent (i.e. putting in Bailiffs without warning where there are rent arrears) has finally been consigned to history.
It was a useful remedy for commercial landlords, as it gave the tenant no warning or time to shift everything of value out to the lock-up garage they keep just for such eventualities.
There is now a statutory regime called the Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery (and yes, of course there is an acronym ! – CRAR) which came into effect on 6th April 2014.
It limits what can be recovered – pure rent (i.e. not service charge etc reserved as rent) Vat and interest. The main change however is a notice period. 7 clear days notice has to be given to the tenant before the bailiff can go in and seize goods – and hey ho – the unit now seems to be empty!
There are other restrictions and limits. For more information and advice contact our litigation team.