A commercial tenant falling into arrears is unfortunately a
not-infrequent occurrence. Faced with a non-paying tenant,
commercial landlords have a number of options to enforce their
rights.
First, the landlord can distrain for the arrears pursuant to the
Rent Distress Act. This typically involves retaining a
bailiff to seize and sell the tenant's personal property in
order to pay the arrears of rent. Distraint can be a particularly
useful remedy where the tenant has valuable inventory or other
property on the premises. Often the mere threat that their property
will be seized and sold will result in a non-paying tenant coming
to terms with the landlord.
One disadvantage to this option is that it may effectively put
the tenant out of business, meaning that as a practical matter, any
recovery may be limited to the proceeds of the distraint. A
landlord also cannot sue for arrears of rent while there is an
outstanding distraint. A further disadvantage is that landlords
