This question has vexed the leasing community for some time, and has recently been addressed (in part at least) by a VCAT decision that was published in the last week or so. There are, by and large, two questions: Does the Retail Leases Act 2003 (Vic) continue to apply to the lease if, say, the […]

Many readers will be familiar with the Ministerial determination that excludes lease with a term of 15 years or more (and certain other related leases) from the Retail Leases Act 2003 (Vic).  For those who are not, a copy of that determination is available by following the link here. The 15 year determination has been a […]

In the recent decision of Paramount Investments Group Pty Ltd v Club Fogolar Furlan Melbourne [2025] VSC 90, Croft J in the Supreme Court considered VCAT’s power to vary conditions on an order for relief against forfeiture after the order was made and after the tenant had failed to comply with the conditions.  His Honour […]

A number of readers have told me that are interested in following developments in the Wollert Lifestyle Community case, discussed in an earlier post here, and have requested updates on the case as it develops. For those who are following the case, the respondents applied to VCAT for a stay of the Tribunal’s orders until hearing […]

Have a look at the following text from section 37(2) of the Retail Leases Act 2003 (Vic) (emphasis added): (2) The current market rent is taken to be the rent obtainable at the time of the review in a free and open market between a willing landlord and willing tenant in an arm’s length transaction having regard to these matters— […]

I have had a few inquiries recently about an earlier here in which I discussed the VCAT decision of Blue Train Café Pty Ltd v The Trust Company Limited (Building and Property) [2024] VCAT 75, in which the Tribunal rejected an argument by a landlord that a tenant seeking an injunction to restrain wrongful re-entry should […]

There are a couple of issues that often come up in landlord and tenant cases that were both considered by the Court of Appeal’s decision last week in Brotherhood of St Laurence v Sarina Investments Pty Ltd [2024] VSCA 46 (26 March 2024). First, tenants occasionally try to terminate a lease when the landlord has breached its repair […]

In the recent case of Q St Kilda Tenancy Pty Ltd v Bortnik (Building and Property) [2023] VCAT 1384, the Tribunal heard argument that a landlord who sought to apply increases to the rent that had not previously been charged either had waived the rent increases or was estopped from applying the old increases.  This has been tried […]

In the recent case of Blue Train Café Pty Ltd v The Trust Company Limited (Building and Property) [2024] VCAT 75, the tenant sought an injunction to restrain the landlord from re-entering a leased premises because of alleged unpaid outgoings.  The Tribunal found that there was an arguable case that the landlord had miscalculated the outgoings that were […]

The bible for commercial leasing practitioners in Australia has long been the various versions of Commercial Tenancy Law. The previous version was staring to age, having been published in 2018. However, as of last month, a new version has been published, its full title being Croft, Hay and Virgona, Commercial Tenancy Law (5th ed, LexisNexis). […]