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Jarrow salon owners see red over baliffs

Nov 1 2009 by Laura Caroe, Sunday Sun

Nicola is not the only tenant who claims Phoenix Beard, the management firm for the Viking Shopping Centre which is owned by Zurich, uses bullying tactics.

Tracey Smith who has had her hairdressing shop, Geezers & Gals, for four years, was taken aback when the landlord demanded she paid quarterly rather than monthly.

She said: “When we first got here it was monthly rent, but then they changed it, one day after I had paid that month.

“They expected me to find three months within the next 24 hours and after borrowing money off my mum, I was still £800 short. The next day they sent round the bailiffs and charged me an extra £250.

“It is very stressful for small businesses to have to find cash within a moment’s notice.

“They are completely unreasonable to think we can find money like that during the credit crunch.”

A spokesman for Phoenix Beard, which is based in Birmingham and London, said: “Absolute Bathrooms and Elle Beauty’s rent was due on September 29 but it was not paid.

“Messages were left with them on October 12 and then the bailiffs turned up two days later.

“Unfortunately the occupier had paid the money into the bank by this stage, but hadn’t told anyone so the debt was still there. It was checked and the money owed was found in the system.”

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