The administrator's letter
A letter arrives from an administrator appointed over one of your tenants. Looking back, the signs were there. Their accounts were filed late last year. Two directors resigned. A new charge was registered in favour of a lender. Their last two quarter's rents were paid a few weeks late, which nobody on the asset side noticed because accounts were chasing it.
None of that was secret. It just was not being watched by anyone who would join it up.
Why tenant trouble is spotted late
Covenant strength is assessed carefully when a lease is granted or assigned. After that, monitoring depends on someone remembering to look, and asset managers with dozens of tenants rarely have time.
| Signal | Where it sits | Who usually sees it |
|---|---|---|
| Late or missing accounts | Companies House | Nobody on your side |
| Director resignations | Companies House | Nobody |
| New charges or security | Companies House | Nobody |
| Slipping payment dates | Your ledger | Credit control, but not asset management |
| Guarantor changes | Companies House | Nobody |
| Parent company trouble | News and filings | Occasionally, by chance |
Each signal on its own may mean little. Together, and alongside your own knowledge of the tenant, they are worth a conversation.
What late warning costs you
You lose time you could have spent talking to the tenant, agreeing a payment plan, reviewing any rent deposit or guarantee, or planning for vacant space. Arrears grow before anyone looks. Lenders and investors ask why they were not told sooner. And every portfolio decision, from refinancing to reletting priorities, is made on out-of-date tenant information.
Guarantors are a particular blind spot. A guarantee looked strong when the lease was signed, but the guarantor company may since have been restructured, sold or dissolved. If nobody has looked since, the security you are relying on in your head may not be what is on the register today.
The monitoring we build
- Each tenant and guarantor is linked to its Companies House record, and group structures are recorded where you know them.
- Filings are watched through the Companies House API: accounts, confirmation statements, officer changes, charges, and notices that might indicate insolvency proceedings.
- Your ledger is read to track payment timing for each tenant, so gradually slipping payments show up as a trend, not just as arrears.
- Signals are combined into a simple watch list for the asset manager, with the evidence behind each flag and links to the filings.
- Alerts go by email or Microsoft Teams when a serious signal appears, such as a notice of an insolvency-related event, so it is seen the same day.
- The asset manager records their view and any action, building a history per tenant.
- A portfolio summary shows income by tenant watch status, for investment committees and lenders.
The monitoring gathers public and ledger information. Judgements about a tenant's financial position, and what to do about it, are yours and your advisers'.
What asset managers get from it
Instead of a surprise, a watch list. Problems are raised while there is still time to talk. Rent deposits and guarantees are reviewed early. Reporting on tenant risk becomes a view rather than a research project. And your team gets used to discussing tenants with evidence.
The history you build is useful in its own right. When a tenant asks to regear or extend, you can see how their payment pattern and filings have moved over the lease, alongside your own notes, and make the decision with a clearer picture.
Could this be you?
- You have learned of a tenant's trouble from an administrator's letter.
- Nobody watches Companies House for your tenants.
- Late payment trends are not seen by asset managers.
- Guarantors are not monitored after the lease starts.
- Tenant risk reports take days to compile.