What is CRAR?
Many landlord’s will face circumstances that result in their tenant owing them money for rent. On the 6th April 2014, the law abolished the landlord’s common law to recover rent from commercial premises. The new regulations put in place still gives commercial landlords a powerful counter-measure called Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery (CRAR). We can use this without the need for court action to recover their rent arrears. For the most up-to-date legislation, head over to the government website.
These new regulations only allow a landlord to recover rent arrears and not any additional service charges. We will be able to recover any charges that may occur by obtaining a County Court Judgment through the County Court. We can then transfer this to the High Court for Enforcement. For further information about our Enforcement Services, please click here.
Our enforcement agents will always act on the best interests for the landlord. They will also attempt to maintain the relationship between landlord and tenant. You have two options with a commercial lease, either the CRAR or Forfeiture. CRAR is used as a method of keeping the tenant within the property whereas Forfeiture is to remove them. It is always important to think of your needs and sometimes removing the tenant is not the best case.
The three steps involved in our Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery (CRAR) service.
- Notice of Enforcement
- We will send the tenant an Enforcement Notice which gives them 7 clear days to pay the outstanding rent under the regulations.
- Enforcement Agent Attendance
- If the notice time has expired and the tenant has still not paid then our Enforcement Agents will visit them. Upon attendance at the address where the rent is due our Enforcement Agents will Take Control of the tenant’s goods. On the first visit, our Enforcement Agents will aim to take full payment from the tenant.
- If they Enforcement Agent was still unsuccessful in obtaining full payment they will then Take Control of the tenants goods. We will obtain a Controlled Goods agreement, this is formerly known as a Walking Possession agreement. A Controlled Goods agreement is a detailed inventory of all assets within the attending address.
- Removal of Goods
- We would request the landlord’s permission to remove any assets if the tenant has still not made payment. When this action is necessary we will arrange the removal and sale of these assets. After we have attended we will contact you if we require urgent instructions and also send you a written report.