Frasers Group reportedly withholding rents until trading improves

Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has reportedly told landlords it won’t pay rents for any of its brands until its trading “reaches a level which the parties would have envisaged when they drew up the lease”.

A letter from Frasers to landlords, seen by Estates Gazette, said: “We write to confirm that we shall not be making any rental payment in respect of the property that we occupy until we are fully able to freely trade as a business at this location and the level of trade reaches a level which the parties would have envisaged when they drew up the lease.”

The group, which owns Sports Direct, House of Fraser and Jack Wills, is reportedly also asking to move rents in the future onto monthly payment cycles to help cash flow. It previously approached landlords in March requesting a temporary 50 percent waiver on its rents.

“A tenancy of a property which could not be used for trading was not the deal we made as tenant,” the letter said. “The whole purpose was for us to be able to trade.”

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