A LANDMARK test case challenging Dublin city commercial rents is due to begin before the High Court this week with hopes it could set a legal precedent.

Last week, retailers in Dublin gathered to voice ongoing concerns over the high ground rents being charged and the inability of many tenants to escape punitive contracts in the midst of recession.

John Corcoran of Korky's on Grafton Street has headed up the publicity campaign surrounding swelling rent levels and he hopes to make his feelings clear during his battle this week against landlords Canada Life.

"The rents are so out of touch with what is really happening; they are hundreds of percent more in difference. It is immense," he said.

Corcoran – who has unsuccessfully offered to sell his Grafton Street lease with a financial sweetener – owes €56,000 in back rent to the assurance giant but says he refuses to pay on point of principle.

While it is a straightforward 'debt collection' case, Corcoran believes that current economic conditions could play their part in a judgement.

"The judge might take a view on it. He has to administer the law but in the current climate anything could happen. Who would have thought a year or two ago that the upward-only rent review would be banned?" he said.

"It is rent slavery. It was so toxic that the government had to ban it. What these people are doing is economic terrorism. For the last 40 years in this country, no matter what happened, landlords were not obliged to reduce rents."

Canada Life declined to comment ahead of the court proceedings but is seeking what it is owed under contract. The case will appear before the High Court on Wednesday.