There have been many laws put into place over the years that were dictating the ways in which distressed landlords could go about recovering their overdue commercial rent arrears recovery from tenants, especially to protect their legal rights. One of these typically includes landlords taking from the tenant virtually anything within the commercial rent arrears recovery property, such as the washing machine, refrigerator, etc.
This procedure referred to as distress or distant was first seen in Britain in 1163. As history progressed so did this common practice. Over 800 years later, it was made evident that there are times when landlords do not need to gain permission from the courts if they want to use this technique of collecting arrears.
Can A Landlord Touch My Personal Belongings?
Generally, a landlord touching property that is subject to an assured tenancy does not need the consent of the tenant as long as it belongs to them and they live there. However, in some situations that involve residential dwellings against tenants who reside there, it is thoughtfully discouraged by most people.
Landlords who are seeking assistance from a Court must apply for consent from the Victims’ Commissioner prior to taking legal action. Of course, if they own residential real estate that is subject to giving notice or requiring compensation, then they must get permission from a Judge. Ministers of religion may also require their permission before taking action towards homeowners because they often fall under this clause in the law.
Tenant and landlord Agreement
Distress is a method often used by landlords to have their tenant pay their rent. If the landlord does not have the money from the tenant, they can create what is known as a certificate of debt by filling out forms and having them notarized and stamped with an embosser that has both their name and address on it.
This paper will be sent to a bailiff, who will arrive within 24 hours without any prior notice to remove goods such as furniture that are worth up to twice the amount owed and store them for 5 days. The goods will be held until at least half of the debt is paid back or until they are either returned or sold during an auction if there is enough interest in buying whatever was taken.
One drawback of this process is that sometimes landlords can accidentally list something on their certificate of debt that isn’t even owned by the tenant or try to collect debts too far in advance of when they actually become due (such as three months of rent).
When a tenant is behind in their rent, one may step in but there are circumstances that should be viewed before resorting to distress. For example, it’s important to know that the landlord/tenant relationship could become permanently damaged as a result of dis training the goods.
Forfeiture Lease Non Payment Rent
That being said, one should also know that if you are considering forfeiting for non-payment of rent when it comes to renting a property, this will invalidate the landlord’s right to do so in the future because once you have taken distress from your tenant’s goods and placed them up for sale under the Act, you will be treating the commercial rent arrears recovery lease as continuing rather than ending it properly because by doing so voluntarily, you are waiving your right to end this particular breach of tenancy – meaning the right to forfeit will be activated again in the event that the tenant fails to pay rent for another subsequent month.
Changes to the law of distress Starting April 6th, 2014 commercial rent arrears recovery proceedings are due to come into force. There are several reasons for this move: The scheme is designed to give increased confidence to landlords in the recovery of possession where a tenant has failed to pay their rent.

