There are several avenues to recovering rent from a commercial tenant, if they are not paying. If a tenant has 2 months’ rent in arrears, it may be time to go to your local County Court to apply for an Order of Possession.
A Writ of Possession allows you to enforce tenant eviction with certificated enforcement officers. Once you have obtained a Writ of Possession and officers have informed your tenants, they will have 24 hours to vacate the premises and its contents. This method is typically used when evicting under Common Law is not successful and you are needing a quick and efficient way to remove your tenants.
Step one: County Court
At your local County Court, you can make your case to apply for an Order of Possession. You will need all relevant documentation including deeds and leases to present to the court. Photographic evidence can be useful too.
Step two: High Court Writ
Once you have obtained an Order of Possession from your local County Court, you can transfer this to the High Court. Using the transfer-up process, you can apply for an Order of Possession at a higher level which will allow you to act under a Writ of Possession.
Step three: High Court officers
If your claim is successful, you can obtain the help of High Court bailiffs to act under a Writ of Possession and serve notice to your tenants that they have 24 hours to leave the property. On some occasions, you may wish to apply for a Writ of Possession and Control in order to recover assets to pay off rent arrears.
If you feel you need to act under a Writ of Possession and would like some more information, get in touch with Able Investigations. We have a professional team of bailiffs in Bristol that can help with tenant eviction and asset recovery. You can call us on 0345 366 0000 to speak to a member of our team.
