Mark Brennan, Victoria’s inaugural Small Business Commissioner, has been appointed as the inaugural Federal Small Business Commissioner. Mr Brennan conducted the review of the Retail Tenancies (Reform) Act 1998 (Vic) which led to the Retail Leases Act 2003 (Vic) and the Small Business Commissioner Act 2003 (Vic). Mr Brennan was then appointed as Victoria’s first Small Business Commissioner.  He served […]

For those interested in the Court of Appeal’s recent decision in the Willmott case, the decision was referred to recently by Beach J in the Victorian Supreme Court decision of Grant v Harlgate Pty Ltd & Anor [2012] VSC 464 (9 October 2012). The decision is also relevant to conveyancing lawyers faced with an insolvent […]

Originally posted on Robert Hay KC Blog:
In Ireland v Subway Systems Australia Pty Ltd and Subway Realty Pty Ltd [2012] VCAT 1061 a tenant contended if an agreement (which it contended was a licence) was held to be a lease then the dispute had to be determined by an arbitrator pursuant to an arbitration clause…

The Australian Financial Review today published an article reporting that an application for special leave to appeal the Court of Appeal’s recent decision in the Willmott case was filed last week. The Court of Appeal held that a liquidator of a land owning company can use the disclaimer power in the Corporations Act to disclaim […]

The Retail Leases Amendment Bill 2012 (Vic) was introduced into Parliament yesterday. The main purpose of the Bill is to remove the requirement to report to the Small Business Commissioner particulars of a new or renewed lease (currently required under s 25 of the RLA 2003). The requirement to notify the Commissioner of leases and renewals […]

  For those following the debate about the Court of Appeal’s decision about the disclaimer of leases in the Willmott decision, here is another summary and comment on the decision by King & Wood Mallesons.

The third edition of Mortgagee’s Power of Sale will be released soon, written by Clyde Croft J and Robert Hay. Earlier editions of the book have been an invaluable resource for mortgage practitioners, and I am sure that the new edition will only enhance the title’s reputation. For more details, see Robert’s post here.

For those who are interested in the debate following my previous post on the Willmott decision, my friend and colleague Carrie Rome-Sievers has put an excellent summary of the case on her blog here.

The Court of Appeal last week ruled that a liquidator appointed to a land owning company could use the disclaimer power in s 568 of the Corporations Act to extinguish leases granted by that company. This decision may have significant consequences for tenants and their financiers if their landlords are placed into liquidation. The case […]

In the next development in the debate over whether a serviced apartment is a retail premises lease, Justice Croft last week held that the lease of a ‘serviced apartment’ as part of a ‘resort accommodation facility’ was a retail premises lease, but sounded a note of caution against applying the finding to all leases of […]