For those who were interested in my last post about the impact of online sales on retail leasing rental values, here is a link to a post on a similar topic by my colleague and friend Mark McKillop. Mark’s post summarises and contains a link to a document by Ferrier Hodgson that touches on the […]

Hello all, and welcome back to the new legal year. During January, The Age published an interesting comment by an economic analyst about the impact of the shift towards online shopping on rent for retail shops, particularly in light of the recent announcement by Myer that it does not intend to renew a number of […]

This is the next post in my series on relief from forfeiture.  There are two recent cases of relief from forfeiture between the parties to the above decision, both relating to the same lease.  This post considers the first of those cases. There were issues in the case over whether the tenant was in breach […]

This is the next post in my series on recent cases on relief from forfeiture. I will be posting some comments on lessons learned from these cases in a later post. The material facts of this case are: the tenant had made a previous application for relief from forfeiture in September 2009, which was granted […]

The next few posts on this site will consider some recent cases on relief from forfeiture. The decision of Mukhtar AsJ can be found here. The material facts are: the tenant had acquired a car wash business at the leased premises and was in breach of numerous covenants under the lease, including being in arrears of […]

In the past week or so a debate has been brewing between shopping centre retailers and landlords, fuelled by comments made in the media by Mark McInnes and Solomon Lew of Premier Investments. McInnes is employing a strategy of closing stores to reduce losses in his ‘ongoing cost-reduction program’.   In some cases where Premier Investments […]

Greens List (my clerk) has just launched a new website with resources that followers of this blog might be interested in. Michael Green had this to say about the new site: Especially valuable to solicitors is the library with over 90 papers in it, many of which can have been filmed and can be viewed. There is […]

Many retail operators occupy their shops under a franchise agreement and outlet licence granted to them by the franchisor who holds a head lease of the property.   As it is usually associated with terminated leases, relief from forfeiture is often overlooked by both franchisors and franchisees when a franchise agreement and outlet licence are terminated. […]

Robert Hay has just put an interesting post on his blog about a change to the legislation regarding goods left on the premises after termination of a lease – see here. The potential problem with the statute that Robert has identified emphasises that it is prudent for landlords to ensure that leases contains a clause […]

Here is a record of an interview with Mark McInnes, former head of David Jones and current head of Premier Retail, discussing the closure of 50 stores in the Just Group announced recently. The interview contains commentary on the retail sector, and the future of retail tenancies in particular, including: comment on centres that are […]