Seizing Property Away from the Rented Premises
(Distress for Rent Act 1737)

If you try to avoid seizure by selling property or giving it away, there is an old law that allows a landlord to seize that property. To use the procedure under the statute of 1737, a landlord must establish

• rent is in arrears;
• you have removed goods or items from the leased premises;
• the goods or items were removed fraudulently and clandestinely;
• goods or items were removed for the purpose of preventing the landlord seizing the goods in respect of rent arrears.

If those tests are satisfied the landlord can 'follow' the removed goods to wherever they have been relocated.