A guide, not advice. This explains how things generally work. A licensed insolvency practitioner will tell you what applies to your company or to you.
Can't pay your commercial rent? Your options as a tenant
Rent arrears carry sharper teeth than most business debts, because commercial landlords hold powers other creditors don't - so the response needs to respect the landlord's position while protecting yours.
What the landlord can do
CRAR - seizing goods from the premises for pure rent arrears, on notice, without court; forfeiture - re-entering and ending the lease for arrears, subject to the lease terms and relief; a claim under any personal guarantee on the lease, which is where company arrears become personal; and the ordinary routes - proceedings, or for a company, the winding up petition.
Your realistic options
Negotiate early - landlords facing void periods and re-letting costs routinely agree deferrals, monthly payments, or re-geared leases with tenants who engage before the arrears age.
Check the lease's exit doors - break clauses, assignment, subletting - and check what a surrender would genuinely cost against trading on.
And test the wider position honestly: rent arrears alone suggest a premises problem; rent arrears alongside HMRC and supplier debt suggest the viability question, where administration's moratorium (which restrains forfeiture) or an orderly CVL may be the real conversation.
The guarantee caveat
If the lease is personally guaranteed, every month of drift grows your personal exposure - which changes the maths of waiting, as our guarantees guide explains.
Call our licensed insolvency practitioners in Manchester on 0333 023 5090 - free, confidential, and directly with an ICAEW-licensed IP.
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This page is intended for general information purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or professional advice. Always take advice from a licensed insolvency practitioner about your specific position.