High Street shops pay £1 rents
Landlords offer retailers 'business rate only' deals to save money on vacant shops.
Certain High Street shops are being offered rents of £1 a year, according to the Financial Times.
Dixons said it is paying £1 a year on a "small handful" of its 121 stores while Card Factory said it was only paying business rates on some of its 600 High Street shops.
The low or no-rent deals are being offered as landlords try to avoid paying business rates. Property owners must pay the rates, typically 40 per cent of a shop’s annual rent, when a premises is empty.
High Street vacancy rates are currently 14.3 per cent, up from four per cent in 2008.
