Landlords under a commercial lease in British Columbia have the right to seize and sell the tenant's goods to satisfy arrears of rent. The name of this remedy is distress for rent. Its origins reach back to medieval times, and many of its substantive rules can only be understood by mastery of alarge body of old court cases. The procedure for distress is largely contained in the Rent Distress Act, a statute that has changed little since the nineteenth century. This project examines restating the law of distress in a new and modern statutory form.
Keywords: distress; rent; landlord; tenant; debt; seizure; tax; crown; sale;personal; property; goods; priority; arrears; third party; chattelmortgage; distress damage feasant; recovery; walking; Crown
