Byron's Notepad

There have not been many evenings of the past couple weeks were I have switched on the television or radio and not listened to a news report of another UK retailer or manufacturer going into Administration.

Administration is a legal and legitimate act that prevents landlords and bailiffs from commencing or continuing with an action against a tenant, without either leave of the court or the consent of the administrator.

Over the past quarter we have seen a number of well known and established high street names disappear and seemingly the Christmas trade did little to encourage the markets that 2009 will be any better. In fact we are told that 2009 will be harder with more businesses closing their doors for the last time. Indeed dbs have seen case instructions treble month-on-month as landlords and property management agencies send in the bailiffs to recover rent arrears.

Arguably good times for the enforcement industry you would presume? Yes and no really I suppose is the answer with constant talk of the Credit Crunch, perhaps the pendulum swung too far for some clients last quarter? I spoke with a number of our clients throughout the quarter and was not surprised to learn that some landlords were instructing agents not to take any recovery action and in some cases not to demand rent, in order to keep tenants trading. The clever thing about statistics is that you can create a positive or a negative, but certainly one statistic that is evident is the increasing number of tenants seeking payment-plans.

As a commercial service-support business, we are constantly working hard to provide clients with immediate collection solutions. Recently dbs developed and launched PD3 our new Protective Distraint Recovery Programme. PD3 is designed to provide pre-enforcement internal telephone, bespoke lettering and protective distraints, securing and impounding the tenants’ assets giving the landlord priority title during an agreed repayment-plan managed by dbs. With talk of a recession and increasing unemployment the government must now look ahead and plan to deliver effective and stronger policies in 2009 that are not just words in glossary reports. It is, I believe, a reasonable and realistic statement to make when I say the high street and industrial estates have a long and difficult way to go yet before we stop the talk of financial meltdown.