LONDON, Oct 31 (Reuters) - More than half of Britain's corporate tenants would move out of up to a quarter of their rented premises, if they could, due to the credit crunch and slowing economy, a survey showed on Friday.
The report by the Confederation of British Industry and property services firm GVA Grimley said 57 percent of businesses, in an ideal world, would walk away from up to a quarter of their leases -- including 90 percent of retailers.
The scale of latent occupier discomfort was even bigger among financial services firms, with 83 percent of respondents wishing they could unload up to a quarter of their working space and a further 17 percent wishing they could dispose up to half.
The CBI/GVA Grimley survey was carried out in August and September and had 152 respondents.
The report also showed that four out of every 10 occupiers were planning to exercise break clauses in their contracts with landlords over the next two years, while a third said they would not renew leases that were scheduled to expire in that time. (Reporting by William Kemble-Diaz; Editing by Greg Mahlich) (See www.reutersrealestate.com for the global service for real estate professionals from Reuters).