The real pound shops: How the high street is trying (and failing) to keep chain stores in town by offering rents of just £1

You can't get much for a £1 these days, unless it's on the high street.

High street landlords across the country are offering bargain basement rents of £1 a year to stave off business rates and keep chain stores in town. 

It has emerged Dixons, owner of the Currys and PC World, has said it is paying just £1 a year on a 'small handful of its stores', the Financial Times reported.

According to the paper, the offer was made to those stores which are on high streets with a very low vacancy rates and were due to close when the lease expired.

As long as the tenant pays the business rates, they can stay as this tax, which can be up to 40 per cent of the rent, falls to the landlord if the building is empty.

Card Factory, told the Independent it had 'business rates only' deals on some of its 600 stores.

Business rates can be up to 40 per cent of a shop's estimated yearly rent and as it operates on a five-year cycle it is slow to catch up on the decrease in rents.

Cheap rent: Dixons, owner of the Currys and PC World, has said it is paying just £1 a year on a 'small handful of its stores'

Also because the tax is tied into inflation, it can mean the rates do not reflect the current economic situation. 

Many independent stores are crippled by high business rates combined with rent.

Dixons, Mothercare, Thorntons and Arcadia Group are all leaving the high street when leases expire, with the preferred option selling online or being in a big out of town shopping centre.

High street vacancy rates have swollen to 14. 3 per cent, up from just 4 per cent in 2008.