Don't get stressed you can still distress

Worry about tenants who don’t pay their rent keeping you up at night? Well worry no longer as the new Commercial Rent Arrears regime that was due to replace the remedy of distress has been delayed until 2012.

So now you can de-stress with as much distress as you like…well until 2012 that is.

Guarantors: Still on the hook?

In this current economic climate it is not surprising to find that more and more tenants are entering into liquidation and in many cases a landlord will find that the liquidator disclaims the lease leaving them with very little recourse.

At this point those landlords who have the benefit of a guarantor will look to enforce the guarantee but may ask themselves whether a disclaimer affects a guarantor or an authorised guarantee agreement. In short, no. The Court of Appeal has confirmed that a disclaimer by a liquidator will terminate the liabilities of the tenant but will not release anyone else; the landlord is therefore free to enforce any guarantee that it may have.

It should however be noted by those of you who have the benefit of authorised guarantee agreements, that the Court of Appeal has stated that if the agreement specifically states that the guarantor will also be released on any disclaimer, then this should be sufficient to release its liability.

Keeping up the pressure: Some useful tenancy renewal tips for landlords

In these times of increasing uncertainty it is important for a landlord to know exactly where it stands, especially when it comes to tenancy renewals. In contrast, a tenant is more likely to be willing to let tenancy renewal negotiations drag on for as long as possible in the hope of achieving a lower rent.

We set out below some tips for landlords to keep the pressure on tenants to renew:

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