Recovering commercial rent in Sunderland
Sunderland’s commercial property is shaped by the automotive plant and its supply chain, with a port and a city centre that has been through considerable change around it.
Industrial and trade property runs through Pallion, Southwick, Doxford International and the estates around the Nissan plant at Washington. Retail sits at the Bridges centre and High Street West. Office stock is concentrated at Doxford Park and Rainton Bridge.
Automotive suppliers hold tooling and components that very frequently belong to the manufacturer rather than the tenant, and none of that can be taken into control. The general trade units at Pallion and Southwick are usually a cleaner position.
What tends to matter locally
Where a tenant supplies the plant, the working assumption should be that the tooling is not theirs. We ask for the supply agreements before advising whether an attendance is worth making.
The North East is a planned attendance rather than a same-day one, and we say that at the outset rather than letting a client discover it after the fee is paid.
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 Sunderland 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 Sunderland 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.