Six years without rent and cash incentives for tenants are the latest signs of desperation among landlords needing to fill shopping centres and high street shops.

Even the largest companies are offering increasingly attractive terms to entice retailers to sign up to new leases. Land Securities and Liberty International are said to be offering five years without rent for long leases at their new shopping centre in Cardiff, set to open in October but only half let, and there are even more attractive packages on the table elsewhere in the UK.