There has been a lot of debate in the leasing community over the effect of the President’s opinion discussed in my earlier post here. A copy of the President’s opinion is now available on AustLii here. Here are my thoughts on a few things that have emerged from the last fortnight’s discussions. Summary of the opinion In […]

A hot issue for retail and commercial leasing practitioners over the last few years has been whether s 251 of the Building Act 1993 (Vic) prevents a landlord from recovering from its tenant as an outgoing under the lease the cost of essential safety measures or other steps required to comply with obligations under the Building Act. A […]

In the VCAT decision of Serene Hotels Pty Ltd v Epping Hotels Pty Ltd handed down last Friday, Member Farrelly at VCAT considered an application to set aside a determination of the rent at a hotel with gaming facilities and held that: a specialist retail valuer is not entitled to use the profits method to […]

  A few solicitors have asked whether, in light of the High Court’s decision in Willmott last week (discussed here), tenants still need to insist on the consent of their landlord’s mortgagee before taking a lease. The answer is ‘yes‘. The High Court’s decision in Willmott recognises that a landlord’s liquidator has the power to extinguish a lease.  It does not […]

  The High Court today found that Liquidators of a landlord company can use the disclaimer power in the Corporations Act to extinguish leases granted by that company. A summary of the decision is available here. The decision upholds a decision of the Victorian Court of Appeal that has created significant consternation among those acting for […]

Whether a landlord can pass on the costs of complying with the Building Act 1993 has been the source of a significant debate over the last year or so. A recent article of mine on this issue has been published in the Law Institute Journal here. In summary, the article suggests that: the better view […]

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 […]

Last Friday, 9 August 2013, the High Court heard an appeal against the Victorian Court of Appeal’s decision in Willmott Forests Ltd (Receivers and Managers appointed)(in liquidation) v Willmott Growers Group Inc and Willmott Action Group Inc [2012] VSCA 202. For those following the development of the case, the transcript of the hearing can be […]

I am often asked how to find the ‘current’ versions of the Retail Tenancies Act 1986 (Vic) and the Retail Tenancies (Reform) Act 1998 (Vic).  To understand why this question is hard to answer, it helps to understand some of the background to the legislation. The 1986 Act was repealed by the 1998 Act.  However, the 1986 Act continues to govern […]

Hot off the press, I have just seen the third edition of Croft J and Robert Hay’s The Mortgagee’s Power of Sale.  The book is available for sale through LexisNexis Butterworths. I commend the book to all readers.