Recovering commercial rent in North London
North London arrears work is dominated by independent retail and hospitality, and by the light industrial belt running up the Lee Valley. It is a market of owner-managed businesses on shorter leases, where the landlord often knows the tenant personally and has usually spent months trying to resolve matters privately before picking up the phone to us.
The retail and leisure side runs through Upper Street and Islington, Holloway Road, Crouch End, Muswell Hill and the Wood Green high street. The industrial side sits along the Lee Valley through Tottenham Hale, Edmonton and the North Circular: trade counters, wholesale, workshops and storage.
Independent retail holds stock, and stock is what makes CRAR effective. A shop or restaurant carrying saleable inventory gives a far stronger position than a service business with nothing on the premises but a till and a laptop.
The procedure itself, from the Notice of Enforcement to the sale of goods, is set out on our page on commercial rent arrears recovery. If CRAR may not suit your tenant in North London, our guide to how to recover commercial rent arrears sets it beside forfeiture, a money claim and a statutory demand.
What tends to matter locally
Mixed use is the single biggest obstacle in North London. A great deal of the high street stock is a shop with flats above, and if any part of the demised premises is let as a dwelling then CRAR is not available at all. What governs is the demise in the lease, not the look of the building, and we check the lease before anything else.
The second recurring issue is the personal relationship. Where a landlord and tenant know each other, arrears are often allowed to run far longer than they should before anyone acts. That is understandable and it is also expensive: the sum owed grows, the tenant’s position worsens, and the goods available to take control of are usually fewer by the time we are instructed.
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 North London we plan it around the occupier’s hours rather than our own, and we will say honestly whether a visit is likely to achieve anything before you pay for one.
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 identical across 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.