In an interesting recent decision from the Supreme Court,[1] Croft J held that an arbitration clause in a retail leases does not oust the Tribunal’s jurisdiction. A detailed discussion of this issue can be found on Robert Hay’s blog here and here. The Court also referred to a finding at first instance that the franchisee’s […]

A colleague recently sent me this excellent article by Bill Burrough from DibbsBarker titled ‘Service station lease: Ensuring the lease is manageable and saleable’. The article talks about: leasing issues for investors considering a service station – an investment considered by some to be ‘recession proof’;  and the obligation to maintain the service station infrastructure […]

My friend and colleague Bill Stark has just posted on his blog a useful summary of the New South Wales Court of Appeal’s decision in BBB Constructions Pty Ltd v Aldi Foods Pty Ltd [2012] NSWCA 224. In that case, the developer unsuccessfully sued Aldi for damages after Aldi withdrew from lease negotiations.  Executed leases had not […]

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 […]

Last month I acted for a tenant whose shop was performing badly.  When I asked how his website was performing, he said the shop had a website, but that it was not updated, showed only a small amount of stock and did not allow customers to purchase online. This is not unusual.  I often hear […]

The Age yesterday published an article here in which franchisees complain about receiving no payment or compensation at the end of a franchise agreement for the goodwill that they have established during the term of the franchise agreement. This is a common complaint by franchisees who feel that the franchisor who refuses to renew the franchise […]