On 6 April 2014, the common law right of distress was replaced with the remedy known as commercial rent arrears recovery (‘CRAR’).
Distress for rent was an ancient common law remedy that allowed a landlord to recover arrears of rent without obtaining a court order. It allowed a landlord to seize goods from premises that it had let and to sell them to raise money to cover the arrears. There was no need to give the tenant any notice.
Although CRAR continues to allow a landlord to enter the tenant’s premises and seize goods, the circumstances in which the remedy is available and the mechanism to put it into practice have been significantly altered.
For our full briefing note on CRAR please click here.