Flooring specialist Floors-2-Go has had the door slammed in its face by the majority of its landlords it has approached to switch existing leases to monthly rental payments.

The retailer contacted more than 20 per cent of its private landlords in an effort to change payments from quarterly in advance to monthly. More than half the landlords did not respond to the request and others refused. The retailer received three hopeful responses, but as of yet only one landlord has agreed to the new terms.

'We hoped we could come to an informal arrangement with landlords on payments, but have had little success,' said Floors-2-Go director of property and legal services David Vizor. 'We pushed for informal arrangements so there would be no administration charges, but that was deemed not good enough.'

Floors-2-Go, which has more than 140 stores nationwide, will now contact its public sector landlords to ask if it can switch to monthly payments. 'We've seen the positive responses that public-sector landlords have given the BRC, so feel that we might have more luck here,' said Vizor.

He added that landlords are willing to accept monthly rental payments on new leases because there aren't the same number of retailers acquiring stores at present. 'It makes no sense that they accept the terms on new leases, but not on existing ones,' he said.

'We're also finding the bigger landlords are refusing the terms outright, while some of the smaller ones are willing to consider the option,' he added.

Floors-2-Go contacted its landlords following the BRC's campaign for monthly rental payments, which started earlier this year.

So far, the BRC has not had any positive responses from private landlords. However, more than 30 public sector landlords have confirmed that they either accept monthly payments or are willing to do so both on new and existing leases.

Floors-2-Go commercial director Simon Webster said cash flow is the lifeblood of any business and big payment spikes should be evened out throughout the year. 'It isn't the case that retailers only ask for monthly payments when their business is struggling, we are merely trying to align all our payments and spread costs evenly throughout the year,' he said.

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