For quite awhile now, Base Rent has been calculated on Total Storage Capacity, whereas prior to this change it was calculated on plot size.
To have a Rent Free Base, all you would need to do to accomplish this would be to NOT include ANY storage bins ( Enhancement / Salvage / Inspiration ).
Thus, you would end up with either just a very decorative base or a Teleportation Hub.. or a decorative teleport hub..
Justice Shall Prevail Where The Laws Of Men Fail
22079 - Best MMO of the Year : "Heroes of Paragon City "
137005 - Introduction to Mission Architect : the Heroic Badge Collection
149433 - The Fall of Mender Moebius : Part 1 : The Beginning of the End
Aarg. I was inquiring about this because my VIP status is going to lapse and I won't be able to pay rent soon. I was hoping to downscale to the point where the base would be fully functional but free. 
However, getting rid of the storage units is, to quote Spock, illogical.
You can still have a very functional base rent free. ParagonWiki lists the items that cost base rent. You can even get around that somewhat by putting an item in, using it, then deleting it immediately after. I do this with worktables all the time.
Items that don't cost rent that are useful and not just decorative? Sure. Plenty of those.
Teleporters (I use the Hacked version) can get you to all of the available zones easily (since Founder's beacon puts you out next to the Tram it can get you to the zones you don't have enough porters for easily as well as next to the Vanguard building for easy access to RWZ).
It costs nothing to add the Pillar of Ice and Flame for access to Ouro missions.
You can have your Basic Reclamator/Resurrection Circle for no cost.
You can have a Vault Storage door for no cost.
True, you still have no storage, but you can still have a useful base.
Or, ask a VIP to either join the SG long enough to pay rent or to park an alt in your SG just so they can pay the rent each month. You can set permissions so they can't take your stuff. I've seen plenty of VIP on the forums willing to help out if asked.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
It's not a FIX, but you could work out a deal with another player/friend who's going to stay VIP so that you can keep rent payed.
Is there such a thing as a rent free base? I thought I saw this on the forums but my searches have yielded nothing. I'm curious how such a thing would be accomplished.
Thanks!