In the decision of Phillips v Abel [2019] VCAT 1031, handed down last week, VCAT held that: a lease of a quarry where the tenant processed and sold to members of the public sand extracted from the site was a lease of retail premises under the Retail Leases Act 2003 (Vic) (RLA 2003); and late provision […]

Deputy President Lulham at VCAT has on 12 April 2019 handed down a decision that is potentially significant in the ongoing issue over the operation of both s 52 of the Retail Leases Act 2003 (Vic) and s 251 of the Building Act 1993 (Vic). For background to that issue, see here. Since President Garde […]

In the significant recent decision of S3 Sth Melb Pty Ltd v Red Pepper Property Group Pty Ltd [2018] VCAT 1684, Deputy President Riegler held that a landlord’s failure to repair an air conditioning unit was a repudiation of the lease by the landlord, allowing the tenant to accept that repudiation and terminate the lease. […]

Legislation came in force on 1 July 2018 that prevents a party terminating a contract under an insolvency clause, also known as an “ipso facto” clause if the other party is a company and has a receiver appointed or is placed into administration. Much has been written about the legislation. However, one of the most […]

The High Court last week in Burns v Corbett [2018] HCA 15 held that a state tribunal does not have jurisdiction over residents of other states.   This may be raised at VCAT if either landlord or tenant are interstate residents. There are, at this stage, two apparent answers to this problem: it appears that the […]

Clients often want to challenge a determination of the current market rent under a retail premises lease. The grounds for setting aside a rental determination are quite narrow. However, three recent cases have seen rental determinations under the RLA 2003 set aside because the specialist retail valuer failed to provide ‘detailed reasons’ as required under […]

In an interesting decision handed down this week Senior Member Riegler at VCAT considered whether the $1M occupancy costs exclusion applied to exclude a lease from the operation of the RLA 2003 and found that: 1. while sub-s 11(2) of the RLA 2003 prevents late entry into the Act, it allows a late exit, that […]

The High Court of Australia this morning refused special leave to appeal the decision of the Victorian Court of Appeal in IMCC Group (Australia) Pty Ltd v CB Cold Storage Pty Ltd [2017] VSCA 178. For a discussion of that decision, see my earlier post here. If you are really keen, you can follow the […]

Robert Hay QC has written an excellent blog post here commenting on a recent VCAT case about the requirements of a notice of default under s 27 of the RLA 2003. You should read Robert’s note before reading post any further. Whether a tenant has validly exercised an option in a retail premises lease often […]

His Honour Judge Macnamara in the County Court of Victoria recently handed down a decision that considers and applies the controversial “ultimate consumer” test under s 4 of the RLA 2003. For some background, see my earlier post here. In the recent case of Access Solutions International Pty Ltd v Gamet Pty Ltd [2017] VCC […]