The four changes, in one table
| What | Before | From 1 May 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Notice of enforcement period | 7 clear days | 14 clear days |
| Extension on a debt adviser's request | did not exist | 28 clear days |
| Fixed fees | £75 / £235 / £110 | £79 / £247 / £116 |
| Percentage threshold (CRAR) | £1,500 | £1,900 |
| Percentage threshold (High Court) | £1,000 | £1,200 |
| Required contents of a notice | (a) to (h) | (a) to (j) |
S.I. 2026/366, amending the Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013 and substituting Schedule 1 to the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014. Read from the revised, in force text on legislation.gov.uk on 11 September 2026.
1. The notice period doubled
This is the change that matters most, and the one most likely to produce a defective notice.
Notice of enforcement must now be given not less than fourteen clear days before an enforcement agent takes control of goods. It was seven clear days from April 2014 until 30 April 2026.
Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013, regulation 6(1), as amended.
"Clear days" is not the same as days
Two rules apply on top of the number itself, and both lengthen the period:
- ✓Neither end counts. The day the notice is given is excluded, and so is the day enforcement takes place. Fourteen clear days means fourteen full days in between.
- ✓Sundays, bank holidays, Good Friday and Christmas Day do not count at all. They are skipped over, not merely excluded from the ends. Saturdays do count. This is the detail most often stated wrongly, usually as "weekends and bank holidays do not count", which would add a week to every period.
The practical effect is that fourteen clear days is never fourteen calendar days, and at certain times of year it is closer to three weeks.
| Notice given | Earliest attendance | Calendar days |
|---|---|---|
| Monday 14 September 2026 | Thursday 1 October 2026 | 17 |
| Thursday 10 December 2026 | Wednesday 30 December 2026 | 20 |
| Thursday 26 March 2026 | Wednesday 15 April 2026 | 20 |
The December example skips two Sundays, Christmas Day, a further Sunday and the substitute Boxing Day holiday on Monday 28 December. The March example runs through Good Friday and Easter Monday. A landlord who instructs in the second week of December and expects attendance before the new year is working to the old arithmetic.
The 28 day extension, and why it usually will not apply to your tenant
New regulation 6(1A) allows the period to be extended to a minimum of 28 clear days where, before the notice period expires, a request is submitted by a debt advice provider on the debtor's behalf.
But regulation 6(1B) disapplies the extension where the debt is non-eligible business debt. That term is borrowed from the Breathing Space Regulations, and it means a debt incurred in connection with a business carried on by the debtor where, for the purpose of that business, the debtor is registered for VAT or is a partner in a partnership, and the debt relates solely to that business.
On a typical commercial tenancy, a VAT-registered trading company, or a partnership, rent arrears will fall outside the extension, and fourteen clear days remains the period. Where the tenant is a sole trader who is not VAT-registered, the extension can apply.
Two points of caution. The borrowed definition sits inside a scheme that is only open to individuals, so its application to a corporate tenant is not free from doubt. And the consequences are asymmetric: attending a day early risks an unlawful entry and the loss of the fees, while waiting a fortnight longer than necessary costs nothing but time. If a debt advice provider makes a request, the sensible course is to take advice on the particular tenant rather than assume the carve-out applies.
2. The notice must now say two more things
Regulation 7 lists what a notice of enforcement must contain. Two new items were added, and a notice that omits them is not compliant:
- ✓(i) the availability of free advice from a debt advice provider, and the contact details for such providers;
- ✓(j) the possibility of obtaining an extension of the minimum notice period under regulation 6(1A).
The existing requirements are unchanged, including the one at regulation 7(g): a notice must give a contact telephone number and address, with the days and hours on which the agent's office may be contacted. An email address is not a substitute. A notice template that has not been revised since April 2026 will be missing (i) and (j) even if everything else on it is right.
3. The fees went up. Most landlords will recover less.
Both statutory tables were substituted. The fixed fees rose by roughly 5%, which is the part everyone reported. The thresholds above which the percentage fee bites rose at the same time, by £400 on CRAR and £200 on High Court writs, and that part was largely missed.
The two changes pull in opposite directions, and above about £3,500 of arrears the threshold wins. The enforcement stage on a CRAR case is now cheaper for the tenant than it was in April, by a flat £18 on any debt over the new threshold.
| Arrears | To 30 April | From 1 May | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| £1,000 | £235.00 | £247.00 | +£12.00 |
| £2,500 | £310.00 | £292.00 | −£18.00 |
| £5,000 | £498.00 | £480.00 | −£18.00 |
| £10,000 | £873.00 | £855.00 | −£18.00 |
| £50,000 | £3,873.00 | £3,855.00 | −£18.00 |
Small debts are the exception. Below £1,900 there is no percentage fee at all now, so the whole of the increase in the fixed fee shows up, and a tenant £1,000 down pays £12 more than they would have in April.
Every stage and both tables are set out in full, with a calculator, on our enforcement fees page.
4. What to do about a notice already in flight
If a notice was given before 1 May 2026, the period that applied when it was given is the period that governs it. If a notice is being served now, three things are worth checking before it goes out:
- ✓Does the template still say seven days? Anything drafted before this spring almost certainly does, including the date-and-time-to-pay line at regulation 7(h), which has to be consistent with the real period.
- ✓Does it contain (i) and (j)? Debt advice availability, and the possibility of an extension.
- ✓Do the fee figures match the current table? Regulation 7(e) requires the notice to state enforcement costs incurred to date and the possible additional costs. A notice quoting £75 and £235 is quoting a scale that no longer exists.
A short notice is not a technicality. Taking control of goods before the period has run is not authorised by the enforcement power, and regulation 17 of the Fees Regulations prevents the agent from recovering fees for any stage carried out when the power was not exercisable.
Why so much of what you will read is still wrong
Seven clear days was the position for twelve years. It is in a great many articles, checklists and template packs, and those pages were not rewritten in May. At the time of writing, several prominent guides to CRAR still state seven days without qualification, and none of the major published guides we have found set out the current fee figures at all.
Three things are worth checking on any guidance you rely on, including this one: whether it names the instrument that made the change, whether it gives the figures rather than describing them, and whether it says when it was last checked. This page was checked against the revised text on legislation.gov.uk on 11 September 2026.
What has not changed
Almost everything else. CRAR is still only available for purely commercial premises under a written lease that has not ended. It still recovers principal rent, with VAT and interest on it, and still cannot touch service charge, insurance rent or business rates. The tenant must still be at least seven days' rent in arrears, a figure set by section 77(3) of the 2007 Act and regulation 52, which is a different seven from the one that changed, and the reason the two are so often confused.
Our full explanation of the remedy is on the what is CRAR page.
This page states the position in England and Wales. It is not legal advice. If you have a notice you would like checked, or arrears you want an opinion on, send us the details.