The short answer
CRAR lets the landlord of purely commercial premises instruct certificated enforcement agents to take control of the tenant's goods and, if necessary, sell them to clear unpaid rent. No court order is needed. It came into force on 6 April 2014 and replaced the old common law remedy of distress for rent.
Authority: Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, section 72 and Schedule 12, together with the Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013 and the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014.
When can a landlord use CRAR?
Four conditions have to be met. If any one of them fails, CRAR is not available and a different route applies.
- ✓The premises are wholly commercial. If any part is let or occupied as a dwelling, CRAR cannot be used. A shop with a flat above it, let under the same lease, takes the property outside CRAR.
- ✓There is a written lease. A tenancy at will or a purely oral arrangement will not do. A tenant holding over under an expired written lease is generally fine.
- ✓The lease has not ended. Once the lease is forfeited or surrendered, the right to use CRAR goes with it.
- ✓At least seven days' worth of rent is outstanding, and it must still be outstanding both when notice is given and when goods are taken.
What counts as "rent"?
This is where CRAR catches people out, and it is the question worth getting right before anyone is instructed.
Recoverable: the principal rent, plus VAT on it and any interest due under the lease.
Not recoverable: service charge, insurance rent, business rates, dilapidations, and any other sum the lease might happen to reserve as rent. Labelling something "rent" in the lease does not make it recoverable under CRAR.
So a tenant £40,000 down where £12,000 of that is service charge gives you a CRAR claim for £28,000, not £40,000. The balance has to be pursued another way, usually through the courts and then High Court enforcement.
What actually happens, step by step
- Instruction. The landlord authorises certificated enforcement agents to act. The lease and the arrears are checked first, because serving notice on a claim that includes service charge is the most common way a CRAR goes wrong.
- Notice of Enforcement. The tenant must be given fourteen clear days' notice before anyone attends. Sundays, bank holidays, Good Friday and Christmas Day do not count towards that period, so a notice served before Christmas can take three weeks rather than two. Most arrears are settled at this stage, which is precisely the point of it.
- Taking control of goods. If the debt is still unpaid, agents attend and take control of goods to the value of the debt and costs. Attendance is between 6am and 9pm, or during the tenant's trading hours if those fall outside that window.
- Controlled goods agreement. In most cases the tenant signs an agreement allowing them to keep using the goods while paying, rather than having anything removed. Trade continues, the landlord gets paid, and the tenancy usually survives.
- Sale. Only if the agreement is broken or refused. Goods are removed and sold at public auction, and the proceeds go to the debt and the statutory costs.
What goods can and cannot be taken
Agents may take goods belonging to the tenant that are on the premises. They may not take items exempt under the Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013, which include tools, books, vehicles and equipment the tenant needs to do their job, up to an aggregate value of £1,350.
Goods belonging to somebody else are not available either. Leased equipment, stock held on sale or return, and a third party's property are all outside the process, and a third party who can prove ownership can make a claim to have them released.
What are the fees?
The fees are fixed by statute and apply at each stage actually reached.
| Stage | Fixed fee | Percentage fee |
|---|---|---|
| Compliance (notice served) | £79 | none |
| Enforcement (agents attend) | £247 | 7.5% of the sum recovered above £1,900 |
| Sale or disposal | £116 | 7.5% of the sum recovered above £1,900 |
Fee scale: Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014, Schedule 1, Table 1, as substituted on 1 May 2026 by the Taking Control of Goods (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2026. Both tables are reproduced in full, with a calculator, on our enforcement fees page. Enforcement under a High Court writ uses Table 2 instead, which has different amounts and a £1,200 threshold; see our High Court enforcement page.
Can I recover rent directly from a sub-tenant?
Yes. Where the premises are sublet, the landlord can serve notice on the sub-tenant requiring them to pay their rent directly to the landlord until the arrears are cleared. It takes fourteen clear days to take effect, and it is often the quietest and quickest route of all, because it needs no attendance at the premises.
What if the tenant disputes the debt?
A genuine dispute should stop the process while it is resolved, and the tenant can apply to the court for relief. This is the practical reason for checking the arrears schedule carefully at the outset. Enforcing a figure that turns out to include service charge does not just fail; it hands the tenant a grievance and can expose the landlord to costs.
CRAR, forfeiture, or the courts?
These are alternatives, and choosing wrongly is expensive.
Use CRAR when you want the money and you want to keep the tenant. The tenancy usually survives.
Use forfeiture when you want the premises back. But note the two are mutually exclusive in practice: exercising CRAR is an acknowledgement that the lease continues, and so it waives the right to forfeit for those arrears. You cannot take the rent and the premises for the same debt.
Use the courts, then High Court enforcement, for sums CRAR cannot touch, or where the tenant has gone and the goods with them.
How quickly can it start?
Notice can be served the same day you instruct, provided seven days' rent is genuinely outstanding. Agents can attend once the fourteen clear days have run: seventeen calendar days after service at the earliest, because Sundays and bank holidays are not counted. Most arrears are settled inside that period without anyone attending, which is the point of it.
This period changed on 1 May 2026. It was seven clear days from 2014 until then, and the Taking Control of Goods (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2026 replaced it with fourteen. A good deal of guidance still online, including from firms who ought to know, has not caught up. Serving on the old period produces a defective notice. We set out everything that changed on 1 May 2026 separately, including what to check on a notice already drafted.
This guide explains the general position in England and Wales. It is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for taking advice on a specific lease. If you would like us to look at a particular set of arrears, send us the details and we will tell you plainly which route applies.