In a put and call option agreement for the sale of land, the option fee is commonly credited towards the deposit once the option is exercised. If a contract is...

To what extent is a specialist valuer required to have “adequate regard” to certain factors when determining the current market rent? If a valuer omits or does not refer to...

If a lessee is in the wrong and has breached the lease resulting in a premature lease termination, you would expect the lessor would be able to claw back its...

How much control do you have, as a lessor, over the type and style of a proposed retail operation when it comes to a lease transfer? You’ve leased a shop...

We see in retail leases the phrases, “the parties agree to agree on…” and “the parties will discuss and agree on…” But what if they don’t agree? How can a...

We live in a time of natural disasters; floods, storms, fires and the like! Often, property is a casualty. In our business, it leads to loss of stock, damage to...

The laws which govern commercial tenancy agreements between small retailers and landlords, including shopping centre owners, are being reviewed by the McGowan Government. On Friday 10 June, the West Australian Government...

There’s good ‘practical advice’ here and it’s COVID-19 related. Leases have been extended to match up to negotiated rent deferral periods. But what about notices regarding ‘end of lease’? What...

Robert Spiers can always find fault in ‘normal time’ legislation. When circumstances change and legislation is rushed to deal with emerging emergencies, Speirs can find loopholes and anomalies in plague...

Victoria has just introduced a Bill that could establish a ‘commencement date’ in a retail lease, in a centre that hasn’t yet been built! Sounds a bit looney doesn’t it?...

It’s almost Christmas. Need some humour, some light but challenging reading? One would think that the farthest material for such would be in the Retail Leases Act. Not if the...

Another case of poor legislation in South Australia where, (yes unbelievably) there’s a minimum 5-year term of lease. It was instigated to ‘protect tenants’ but as Robert Speirs reveals, it’s...

Combustible Cladding is a hot issue (forgive the pun) at the moment. It has very serious ramifications for all ‘public’ buildings. This article looks at the new reforms and focuses...

You’re a retailer and your lease says that if a tenant is in breach of the lease, your landlord can re-enter the premises provided he gives you notice. Your rent...

Some in our office reckon Speirs’ papers on retail lease legislation are the best in the issue! The following would be a real laugh if it were fiction; problem is...

As usual, a very amusing article from Robert Speirs. This time he looks at the ‘Assignment of Lease’ clause, with special attention paid to the NSW Retail Leases Act. Again,...

Core trading hours are anachronistic; so says Robert Speirs. Since their introduction some years ago, shopping habits have changed, as have lifestyles and even what we shop for. Speirs calls...

Robert Speirs, a specialist in retail leases and regular contributor to SCN, looks at the recent case where the lessors claimed a payment for operating costs over and above that...

Indemnities are often the least understood clause in the retail lease. So says John Morrison. In this article, he looks at the topic and cautions both lessors and lessees to...

The retail legislation in Victoria is much the same as the retail legislation in the other Australian jurisdictions. One of the main differences is that, in NSW for instance, “retail...

I have recently acted for a tenant in a retail lease dispute which demonstrates the ability of the legislation to deliver an uppercut when you least expect it...

The minimum 5-year term was one of the pillars of the New South Wales Retail Leases Act when it was enacted in 1994. It has now been repealed. New South Wales is now aligned with Queensland in the belief that the term of a retail shop lease does not need...

We’re often asked by retail landlords seeking security for their retail properties – what’s better: a bank guarantee, a director’s guarantee or a cash security deposit?

We are all familiar with the frustration often created by the application of retail lease legislation and the impact that it has upon the ability of the...

Not to be outdone by the banana-benders, the NSW government has tabled the Retail Leases Amendment (Review) Bill 2016...

A recent court decision reminds us of the need for both landlords and tenants of retail subleases to be especially careful of the complexities around having a sublease (and not a direct lease)...

As we go to press, the Strata Schemes Management Act and the Strata Schemes Development Act come into effect in NSW. Although these Acts may have no direct bearing on our shopping centres, they throw up some interesting development opportunities. They are about retailers and landlords, being about one aspect...

You’d wonder where Robert Speirs gets his material! How can you write a critique of the Retail Leases Act and more to the point, various reviews on it, issue after issue. Easy! You just report on the reviews – they don’t stop. The latest, the Moss Review of the Retail...

Does the turnover of a store include online purchases? It could be argued that ‘online’ purchases have nothing to do with the bricks-and-mortar store. But what if the customer picks up the goods from the store? Or what if the customer goes into the store, checks out the goods and...

If you think these are perfect forms of security, you are wrong! Here's the conundrum:

We’ve recently (2015) seen an Amendment Bill to the Queensland Retail Leases Act of 1994.

We live in a vastly different world from that of our forefathers; in no field of human interaction is this more illustrated than that of ‘communication’. How we communicate with...