Rent-free deals agreed with high street retailers (11 Sept 09)
Building Rent-free deals for tenants are being agreed on properties in Yorkshire as a way of tackling the current downturn, according to a regional newspaper.
The report states that retailers in particular are benefiting from rent-free holidays with landlords until such time as the economy picks up again. An anonymous accountant is quoted in yesterday's Yorkshire Post as saying that many high street names are not currently paying rent. Rather this, he says, than end up with more empty properties.
Understandably, it's not known just how many deals have been secured but it takes the previous landlord-tenant relationship of rent-free periods and refurbishment cost incentives a step further.
The
British Retail Consortium welcomed the way that landlords are responding
to the struggles facing retailers at present: "Landlords are
showing more flexibility, which we have long advocated. It isn't in
their interests to have tenants fail or have premises empty."