Recovering commercial rent in Warrington
Warrington exists commercially because of where it sits: between Manchester and Liverpool, on the M6, M62 and M56. It is one of the most concentrated distribution markets in the North West.
Distribution and industrial property runs through Woolston, Birchwood, Omega, Winwick Quay and Gemini. Retail sits at Golden Square and the Bridge Street area, with the retail parks at Gemini carrying the out-of-town trade. Office stock concentrates at Birchwood Park and Centre Park.
Omega and Gemini are large-format distribution, where the stock is very often a customer’s and the handling plant is leased. Woolston and Winwick Quay carry more trade and manufacturing, where a landlord’s position is considerably stronger.
What tends to matter locally
The scale of the distribution estates here means the ownership question is almost always the deciding one. A full warehouse at Omega can be worth nothing to an enforcement agent, and we would rather establish that before an attendance than after it.
Birchwood Park office tenants frequently hold managed or serviced space. A licence to occupy will not support CRAR at all, and that is worth checking on day one.
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 Warrington 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 Warrington 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.