Gentle Pressure

Our Client, a property investment company, had a serial problem with a small retail tenant of the ‘corner shop' variety.

The rent was a modest £1,250 per quarter, but the tenant had got himself into a position whereby he owed arrears of £4,000.

We attended on a Thursday, levied distress for the full amount of £4,000 and gave the tenant the statutory five days in which to pay, failing which we would return to remove goods. In point of fact the value of goods and stock were probably a little over £650, and had we removed them the landlord would have received precious little towards his rent arrears – not to mention putting the tenant out of business.

As it was, the act of levying distress applied pressure on the tenant to focus his attention on the arrears due to the landlord, instead of his other creditors. The result was the tenant agreed a short-term, regular repayment plan of staggered payments, which were acceptable to our client.

Comment

The client knew the tenant’s goods and stock were insufficient to cover the outstanding arrears, but he guessed (correctly) that the Bailiff’s visit would alter the tenant’s priorities when it came to dealing with his creditors. Landlords notoriously come at the bottom of many tenants’ lists.

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