A refusal by a landlord to provide a deed of renewal to a tenant or to provide consent to an assignment can be a source of significant anxiety for a tenant who is trying to sell its business, particularly if they are concerned that the buyer may go elsewhere if there are significant delays before […]

Further to my previous post, the new Regulations have not made their way onto the Victorian Law Today page yet. A copy is attached here: Retail Leases Regulations 2013 (Vic).

The Retail Leases Regulations 2013 (Vic) have been passed and come into operation today. A copy of the Regulations is available here (click: Victorian Law Today; check  the box marked – ‘Statutory Rules’; click on ‘R’; follow the link to  Retail Leases Regulations 2013). I will provide some comments on the Regulations shortly.

Regular readers will be aware that the Retail Leases Regulations 2003 (Vic) will sunset shortly and that the Minister for Innovation, Services and Small Business recently released a Regulatory Impact Statement and called for submissions about proposed new Regulations. The Acting Minister Minister for Innovation, Services and Small Business published in the Victoria Government Gazette on […]

The Victorian Supreme Court has recently confirmed that landlords cannot be restrained from calling on a tenant’s bank guarantee unless the tenant can show an arguable case that the landlord is acting: fraudulently; unconscionably in breach of consumer protection statutes;  or in breach of a contractual promise not to call on the security. In a […]

In the recent VCAT decision of South Yarra Colonnade Pty Ltd v Designbuilt Industries Pty Ltd & Ors (Retail Tenancies) [2013] VCAT 266, a tenant of a retail shop sent a letter to its landlord advising the landlord that it intended to exercise its option. When the lease was subsequently terminated, the landlord argued that the […]

The Department of Business and Innovation has invited submissions on proposed Retail Leases Regulations and a Regulatory Impact Statement. The Department’s website states that: The objectives of these regulations are to: make provision with respect to the amount of the occupancy costs for the purpose of excluding certain retail premises from the Retail Leases Act […]

In an interesting recent decision, Garde J in the Victorian Supreme Court: confirmed that distress for rent remains abolished in Victoria, despite the repeal of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1958 (Vic); and found that a lien in a lease over goods left behind by a tenant is effective, provided that it crystallised after re-entry and […]

The Office of the Small Business Commissioner publishes an information brochure about the Retail Leases Act 2003 (Vic) that contains information about the operation of that Act and useful checklists for landlords and tenants entering into a retail premises lease. The brochure has recently been updated in light of the recent amendments to the RLA […]

I am often asked by lawyers acting for landlords of retail premises leases whether to issue proceedings in Court or VCAT for arrears of rent. The recent decision of Cavarno Nominees Pty Ltd v Melbourne Liquidation Centre Pty Ltd [2012] VCC 1599 in the County Court illustrates the risk of a false start if proceedings […]