CRAR - Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery - replaced the Common Law remedy of distress or distraint on 6th April 2014.

There will have to be a written lease in place to use CRAR. It must be possible to calculate the rent due with certainty and it must be for a minimum amount.

Unlike under distraint, only Certificated Enforcement Agents (previously known as certificated bailiffs) are permitted to take control of goods, not the landlord.

Yes we do. Please contact us on 0333 001 5100 for further details.

Yes, where we consider there is a risk of there being a breach of the peace, we will ask for Police assistance. In the case of evictions and repossessions, these are normally planned with the Police and executed with their attendance.

You will need to obtain a County Court Judgment against them, which can then be enforced by The Sheriffs Office.

You will need to obtain a County Court Judgment for the arrears, which The Sheriffs Office can then enforce if payment is not made.

If the tenant is no longer occupying the premises, you will need to obtain a County Court Judgment for the arrears and instruct The Sheriffs Office to enforce it if payment is not made. They will be able to take control of assets belonging to the defendant at their new premises. You will need a CCJ for both commercial and residential tenants who have left the premises.

You will need to apply for an order for possession in the County Court local to the property. When you apply for the order, you can ask for permission to have it enforced by High Court Enforcement Officers under Section 42 of the County Courts Act 1984.

You can either remove them under a writ of possession or under Common Law forfeiture of lease.

Forfeiture of lease is a Common Law remedy available to commercial landlords when the rent is overdue by a specified period, normally 21 days.

You can forfeit the lease simply by entering the property and changing the locks. Normally the landlord would instruct a certificated bailiff to do this on his behalf.

The term Certificated Bailiff has been replaced with Certificated Enforcement Agent. This is a person who has been assessed by a judge to evaluate his ability to act as an enforcement agent. The certificate is valid for two years and is awarded to individuals.

So while The Sheriffs Office as an organisation is not certificated, our enforcement agents are Certificated Enforcement Agents, so you can instruct us to act under Common Law on your behalf.

Yes you can if you are a residential landlord. If you are going via the Court (residential landlords must obtain a court order) to obtain an order for possession and a County Court Judgment for the arrears, you can apply for a combined writ of possession and control to instruct The Sheriffs Office to execute both at the same time.

If you are a commercial landlord, CRAR and forfeiture cannot be conducted simultaneously and will need to cover different rent periods. CRAR cannot be undertaken if the lease has been terminated.

If you instruct us to enforce under a County Court Judgment, we can enforce at the debtor's place of business. If they have more than one location, we will serve notice of enforcement at the appropriate premises.

Under CRAR we may only take control of goods on the demised premises.

You can use CRAR - Commercial Rent Arrears recovery. You do not require a court judgment but you may only recover rent. The enforcement must be conducted by a certificated enforcement agent, for example The Sheriffs Office.

Or you can obtain a County Court Judgment and we can enforce it. The advantage is that the judgment can include other outstanding charges as well as rent.