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How to: Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery (CRAR) in 2026

What is the Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery (CRAR) process?

The Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery (CRAR) is a legal procedure in England and Wales that allows landlords to recover unpaid rent by seizing and selling a tenant's goods. It replaced the old common law right of "distraint" in 2014, introducing more formal notice periods and protections for tenants. This procedure to collect Commercial Rent Arrears occurs without the need to go to court. This is allowable under Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 chapter 2.

As a commercial landlord, even under the new bailiff regulations, you still hold a special creditors privilege that no other type of creditor has. The procedure came into place on 6th April 2014.

This is to use Certificated Bailiffs, or Certificated Enforcement Agents as we are now called, to execute warrants on your behalf for rent arrears.

This is CRAR, Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery. There are of course some rules and criteria to be met in order to do so.

We provide a quick and very simple Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery (CRAR) service. If the answer to the following questions is yes then we could start the process to recover your rent today. * This is usually for free for the landlord as your tenant will be the one paying the costs. See terms for full details.

Questions: Legislation and Rules

This is covered under Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 Chapter 2 section 77

Key Requirements for CRAR

Before a landlord can trigger this process, several strict criteria must be met:

• Commercial Only: It cannot be used for residential or "mixed-use" properties (e.g., a shop with a flat above it on the same lease).
• Written Lease: There must be a formal, written lease agreement in place.
• Pure Rent Only: You can only use CRAR for basic rent, interest, and VAT. It cannot be used to recover service charges, insurance premiums, or repair costs, even if the lease defines these as "rent."
• Minimum Debt: The rent must be at least 7 days overdue (this timeframe can fluctuate based on government intervention, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the baseline is 7 days).
• Is the tenant still in the property with goods worth more than the value of the arrears?
• Have you not yet issued other proceedings against this tenant?

What cannot be collected by Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery (CRAR) process?

Section 76 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 says:

“Rent does not include any sum in respect of rates, council tax, services, repairs, maintenance, insurance or other ancillary matters (whether or not called ‘rent’ in the lease).”

This is still the case even if the lease describes these charges as rent.

For these we have other alternatives to collect these debts. See Statutory Demand, Business to Business Debt Recovery or our High Court enforcement service.

Instruct Quality Bailiffs

Commercial landlords can instruct a commercial rent bailiff company, such as Quality Bailiffs, as soon as the rent is in arrears.

We recommend that you do this as soon as possible to maximise its success. It works very well when the tenant has assets that will cover the rent and fees.

Telephone us now to speak to our expert team.

Pros and Cons for the Landlord

What happens after I return the warrant?

Once your warrant is received the following will happen:

• One of our team contacts you within a few hours.
• They confirm receipt of the warrant.
• Check the details.
• Plan and action the warrant.

Instructions received outside of business hours are dealt with the next business day.

• Your case is loaded onto our online management system.
• The system emails you confirmation of your instruction.
• One of the team will allocate the case to our nearest Bailiff / Enforcement Agent.
• The case manager will determine the next process and add it to the case management system.
• As actions are completed the case management system is updated.
• Our office will issue a notice of enforcement. This has the legal effect of binding the goods to stop the debtor disposing of them. This is sometimes called the ‘CRAR Notice’.

The Notice of Enforcement gives the debtor 14 clear days from receipt, not including Sundays or bank holidays, to pay in full before the Bailiff / Enforcement Agent visits to take control of the goods.

The Notice of Enforcement is usually sent by first class post, or sometimes email, unless an arrangement has been agreed with you for personal service.

• When posted, allowing for delivery time, it will be approximately 19 days before the bailiff attends to take control of goods.
• When served personally, it will be approximately 16 days before the bailiff attends to take control of goods.

Following the expiry of the Notice of Enforcement, if the debtor has not paid us, or you have not informed us of payment you have received (including our fees), a bailiff will attend the debtor’s premises to take control of goods to recover the outstanding rent arrears and our fees. The first visit usually happens within 7 working days after expiry of Notice of Enforcement.

Taking Control of Goods

Our Bailiff / Enforcement Agent will attend and attempt to take control of goods or collect your arrears and our charges.

There are a number of options at this stage:

• Enter into a Controlled Goods Agreement (a payment arrangement secured on the debtors goods).
• Secure goods on the Highway (clamp a vehicle).
• Lock up goods on part of the premises (impounding high value items).
• Remove goods to storage ready for sale.

Whatever happens on site you will be kept up to date by either one of the team or our Online debt system.

Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery (CRAR) & Distress

On 6th April 2014 Distress was abolished and replaced with a weaker alternative, though still useful, called Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery, also known as CRAR for short.

CRAR, like all taking control of goods enforcement solutions, requires Bailiffs (now called Certificated Enforcement Agents) to issue a notice of enforcement before attending.

This notice sometimes referred to as a ‘CRAR Notice’ gives the tenant 14 clear day’s notice before action and binds the tenants goods. It gives notice of the landlords intension to send in bailiffs to take control of the tenants goods.

This ‘CRAR Notice’ can only be issued by a bailiff and cannot be issued or enforced by a landlord.

* Is CRAR a free service to landlords?

The service is not free as such, but the cost of using the service can be recovered from the debtor (tenant) if successful under The Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations.

The statutory fees are charged to the landlord but recovered at the time of enforcing the warrant from the debtor. See terms for full details.

Protective CRAR

Another good reason to use CRAR against your tenant is to protect both parties’ interests.

If you use us to exercise CRAR against your tenant we attend and take control of the tenant’s goods and enter into a Controlled Goods agreement.

At this point no other Certificated Bailiffs or Certificated Enforcement Agents can come in and do the same or remove the goods until your debt is paid.

• This gives the tenant some breathing space to get their financial affairs together and pay off your debt.
• It also helps safeguard your position as you have first claim on the goods in most circumstances.

Sub tenants in commercial properties

It can be quite a common occurrence in the commercial rental market to find that the rent has not been paid.

Most landlords try a couple of gentle reminders via their own credit control procedures and when that does not work instruct their enforcement company.

If the enforcement agent attends the property and finds there is a sub tenant that creates an immediate problem in that under the Tribunals Court and Enforcement Act the enforcement agent can only take control of the goods belonging to the tenant.

There are generally two types of sub tenants: illegal sub tenants that are in there contrary to the lease and without the landlords permission, and sub tenants that the lease allows.

If it is an illegal sub tenant then usually the best course of action is the enforcement agent should take no money, get their details, copies of any documents if available and agree nothing. The enforcement agent should then report back to the landlord.

The danger of taking any money is that it could be construed that a contract has been created between the landlord and the sub tenant. Also, once the landlord is informed if they fail to take action to remedy the situation quickly, they could waive their right to forfeit the lease for this breach. It is essential therefore that the landlord takes immediate action after consultation with their legal representative.

The latter type of sub tenant is where the lease allows for it. If the enforcement agent finds one of these types of tenants one option for the landlord is to get the enforcement agent to serve a notice under section 81(2) of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007.

The notice must be in writing signed and dated by the landlord and including the landlords contact details. It will state the amount of rent the landlord has the right to recover from the immediate tenant by CRAR this is called the “notified amount”. This applies once the time period expires which is currently 14 clear days after the notice has been served. The effect of the notice is that the notice transfers to the landlord the right to recover, receive and give a discharge for any rent payable by the sub-tenant under the sub-lease, until either the notified amount has been paid or the notice is replaced or withdrawn.

If the sub tenant does not pay after the notice the landlord may issue a CRAR warrant against the sub tenant and the enforcement agent would enforce that in the same way as they would against an immediate tenant.

Use Quality Bailiffs

For a quality service.

• Prompt service.
• On line reporting.
• Local Enforcement agents across England & Wales.

Contact your local regional office to discuss your Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery.

This page has been updated April 2026 to reflect current procedures and practices.