Clause 72
Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill [Lords]
9:00 am
Vera Baird (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs; Redcar, Labour)
We are indeed in the land of CRAR and I should probably, therefore, say what it is: commercial rent arrears recovery. I am sure that we will talk about it a lot, and people might not have followed where we are.
CRAR is available only where the amount recoverable is in excess of a minimum amount, which, as the hon. Gentleman said, will be set up in accordance with regulations. That unpaid amount may not include accrued interest, VAT or other permitted deductions.
We will take care to ensure that the conflicting needs of landlord and tenant are managed by setting the minimum at an appropriate level. Our initial thinking suggests a trigger sum of something like one week’s rent or £200—whichever is the smaller—or four weeks’ arrears if the rent is less than £50. Currently those are, in our minds, perhaps appropriate minimums to apply for CRAR purposes. We are open to suggestions, but it seems to me that we are starting at a reasonable point. If we set the level at around that margin, we will not be allowing too onerous a penalty for too small a debt on the tenant and will not be cheating the landlord unless he has serious financial problems himself. I hope that the hon. Gentleman is reassured.