Government Increases Rent Arrears Required For CRAR
The Government has announced an increase in the amount of rent arrears required to be due to a Landlord before it can exercise the Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery procedure (CRAR).
The Taking Control of Goods and Certification of Enforcement Agents (Amendment) (No. 2) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020 (“the Regulations”) come into effect today, 24 June 2020, and require the amount of rent arrears to be equivalent to 189 days’ rent, an increase from the 90 days’ worth of arrears required previously. This will severely limit the availability of CRAR as an option for landlords in recovering rent arrears.
This restriction applies for the “relevant period” as defined in section 82 of the Coronavirus Act 2020, which has recently been extended by regulations until 30 September 2020. You can read about this here.
The Regulations also prescribe 23 August 2020 as the expiry date for the certain other measures, including the prevention of enforcement agents taking control of goods at residential premises and on highways.