Recovering commercial rent in Exeter
Exeter is the commercial capital of the South West peninsula, and Marsh Barton is the reason. It is one of the largest trading estates in the region and produces the bulk of the arrears work we see here.
Marsh Barton carries motor trade, wholesale, trade counters and light industrial at scale. Sowton Industrial Estate and Exeter Business Park hold the newer distribution and office stock. Retail and leisure sit around Princesshay, the High Street and Gandy Street.
Marsh Barton units generally hold stock, vehicles and equipment, which is a genuinely strong position for taking control of goods. The motor trade is the exception worth noting: vehicles on a forecourt are very often on consignment or subject to finance and cannot be taken.
What tends to matter locally
Ask about the stocking finance before an attendance at any motor trade unit. It is the single most common reason a Marsh Barton visit recovers less than the landlord expected.
Exeter city-centre retail runs on a tourist and student pattern, so the trading year does not match the rent quarters. That is worth weighing before a notice goes out in the spring.
How quickly we can be there
We aim to be with you within two hours, though being straight about it, that is rarely what decides the outcome: the compliance stage runs from the office, and the tenant first gets a written Notice of Enforcement with fourteen clear days to run before anybody attends. Most commercial arrears are settled inside that period without an attendance at all.
Where an attendance is needed in Exeter we plan it around the occupier rather than around our diary, and we say honestly beforehand whether the goods on site are likely to justify the visit.
The statutory fees
Under the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014 the fees are fixed by statute: a £79 compliance fee when the Notice of Enforcement is issued, and a further £247 plus 7.5% of anything above £1,900 if an enforcement visit becomes necessary, with the full statutory scale set out in full separately.
Those figures are fixed by regulation, not by us, and they are the same in Exeter as anywhere else in England and Wales.
Before you instruct us
Two things decide whether CRAR can be used at all:
- The lease must be a commercial one, in writing, with no part of the property let as a dwelling.
- At least seven days' rent must be outstanding, net of VAT, interest and any deduction the tenant could properly claim, which is the statutory minimum under section 77(3) of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007.
If both hold, we can usually have a Notice of Enforcement out the same working day we are instructed.