In a bid to avoid paying business rates on empty units, retail landlords in the UK are accepting rents of just £1-a-year on hard to let shops, according to law firm Eversheds

Paul Moorcroft, a partner in the real estate team at Eversheds said: “The news that landlords are prepared to accept knock-down rents to avoid paying huge bills on business rates is something that has actually been happening for a while, but primarily in the context of charity shops, rather than other retailers.

“However as well as mitigating the rates liability, a landlord will seek to maintain the general ‘attractiveness’ of the retail location for customers, and might be seeing this tactic as a potential means of attracting a tenant on a longer term basis should it trade well.

“Provided a landlord is happy that any such deals will not be used as evidence against it in rent review or lease renewal negotiations with other tenants, it is understandable why some landlords will conclude that any letting is preferable to having an empty shop.”