How to Handle Your Commercial Tenant Debt Recovery

In theory, reopening the economy should come as good news to commercial landlords. It means your commercial tenants can welcome back customers and get back to the grind. If all goes well, they’ll be earning enough money to pay the rent again.

It becomes less clear in practice whether the country’s economic recovery will put money in your hand. Although states are gradually reopening their economies, plenty of businesses continue to keep their doors closed. 

If your tenant doesn’t reopen soon, chances they ever will diminish each day they remain closed, as do the chances you’ll receive any back-owed rent.

That’s why it’s crucial you don’t waste any time enlisting our tenant collection services. As an experienced tenant debt recovery agency, we can act quickly to help you navigate this challenging time with confidence.

Permanent Closures Are on the Rise

Lockdown measures hit the retail and service industry hard. Restaurants, bars, and other storefronts had to shut down to contain the spread of the virus.

We look to the popular restaurant review site Yelp for insights on these closures. Its Economic Average Report shows that 55 percent of the businesses listed on its site have shuttered their doors for good. That’s an increase from 41 percent from the previous report, bringing the total number of companies that have gone out of business to 77,842.

Another 132,580 businesses listed on Yelp remain temporarily closed as of July. While we can remain hopeful, there’s no guarantee all of them will open.

A full economic recovery is hard to predict, especially if states reinforce lockdown measures as coronavirus cases resurge. As a result, the New York Times reports we won’t know the true commercial death toll of the pandemic until next year.

Thanks to these conditions, businesses are walking a fine tightrope during the pandemic, and so are you. If your commercial tenants can’t reopen for business, you won’t be able to collect rent.

Don’t Wait to Recover What You’re Due

We understand how hard navigating rent collection can be for commercial landlords. In these unprecedented times, you may feel as though you don’t have any options.

But you do, and the faster you enlist our tenant collection services, the better.

Waiting doesn’t do you favors; as a general rule, debt becomes harder to collect the older it is. Aging debt loses value over time, as statistically, you’ll collect less of it the longer you wait.

Within this particular context, you’ll also be competing with the other commercial creditors that your tenant may owe. When a business suddenly goes under, they tend to owe vendors, equipment leasing companies, and more in addition to their landlord.

Waiting to recover your rent gives these creditors a head start, allowing them the first crack at your tenant’s resources. If they beat you to the punch, your commercial tenant may not be in a position where they can pay easily.

That’s why we encourage you to contact us as soon as you suspect something’s wrong. Enlisting our tenant collection services as soon as you suspect something’s amiss will help us take action before other creditors realize your tenant has gone out of business for good.

What Happens if Your Tenant Skips Town?

In most cases, your commercial tenant will alert you of their plans. They’ll let you know that they’re struggling to pay rent, giving you an opportunity to put together a tenant debt recovery plan.  

But sometimes, a business isn’t upfront about their struggles. They won’t tell you anything as the unpaid rent bills pile up. The only way you’ll find out something’s wrong is when you swing by the place to realize they’ve packed up their things and left, or worse, left behind damages.

When a tenant skips town, it hurts; you’ve already looked the other way when their rent went overdue. Now you’re expected to waste more of your time and money tracking them down for what they owe.

While a runaway tenant steals your chance of recovering debt the normal way, you can still count on us to help you get what you’re owed. Challenging tenant debt collection agency is our bread and butter, so we’re ready to roll up our sleeves when the going gets tough.

We’ve been in the business for 28 years, during which time we’ve seen it all — including businesses that steal away in the night. It’s a testament to our ability to collect bad debt that our recovery rates are twice that of the national average.

Skip Tracing: The Secret Weapons Behind Our Landlord-Tenant Collection Services

If a tenant disappears without a trace, we set our licensed private investigator on the case. This investigator heads our skip tracing department with a team scours the country for your missing tenant.

As a licensed professional, our private investigator has access to special locate databases and other tools that ensures our locate rates are higher than other collection agencies who don’t have these tools. And unlike other agencies with comparable resources, we don’t apply a charge when you need our skip tracing solutions.

Here at Summit A*R, we believe in transparency. That’s why we provide fees you understand with no hidden costs or minimums.

See How We Do Things Differently

Historically, commercial debt collection companies have a bad rap. They rely on underhanded tactics that skirt the law and produce disappointing results.

Here at Summit A*R, we do things differently.

Our respect for people sets us apart from those unethical agencies that give our industry a bad name. Not only do we follow all the rules and regulations of our industry, but we also keep a finger on the pulse of the new post-pandemic guidelines. This ensures we’re following the law at every step of our tenant debt recovery process.

We treat everyone with dignity, respect, and compassion because we believe everyone deserves it.

To learn more about how our ethical approach to tenant collections services yield results, get in touch today! And when you’re ready to fill your space again, check out these tips to help you stay on top of rent collection with your next tenant.