A retail or commercial landlord or tenant should not execute any lease documentation until they have received proper advice from an experienced conveyancer or lawyer. They should make contact as soon as they start negotiating terms and conditions, as there are numerous complexities involving both types of leases.
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In particular changes that have occurred last year to the retail leases act that came into force July 1, 2017 requires expertise from conveyancers or lawyers who practise in this area.
State-specific retail legislation governs retail leases whereas state-specific property and conveyancing acts regulate commercial leases.
In many instances where commercial leases do not exceed the term of three years the terms are normally prepared by the landlord or their managing agent so the tenant should obtain proper legal advice on the documentation. A commercial lease unlike the retail lease, can contract out of the property and conveyancing act.
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Practising primarily in the areas of property and commercial law, Vic Cuoco, founder and principal of CVC Law and Conveyancing in January 2012, is available throughout their four offices in the Illawarra to provide advice to landlords and tenants.
“A primary example of how a retail lease differs to a commercial lease is that the retail leases act prevents a landlord imposing their legal costs for the preparation of the lease upon the tenant,” Vic said, a partner in a Wollongong law firm for many years.
“Many of the recent changes supersede the original provisions when the act was established in 1994. A conveyancer or lawyer practising in this area will be able to ensure that both the landlord and tenants are acting within the provisions of the legislation.
“A prime example is that under the provisions of the Retail Leases Act the landlord must have available a draft copy of the lease seven days before a lease is entered into between landlord and tenant but also the landlord must provide to the tenant all disclosure documents within seven days of entering into a lease.
“Failure to do so may give the tenant the right to terminate the lease. An example of a major change to the initial Act is that if a landlord fails to disclose all outgoings in their disclosure statement then there is no obligation upon the tenant to pay those outgoings.”
CVC Law being a small boutique practice provides the right advice without the exorbitant price of the large firms.
“Landlords and tenants can be seen before and after hours and given our experience involving commercial and retails leases we are able to expedite documentation relevant to both types of leases,” Vic said.
Contact principal Vic Cuoco by email on vic.cuoco@cvclaw.com.au.
Retail minefield
A retail lease is a type of commercial lease in premises that are wholly or predominantly used for retail shop businesses.
These leases attract additional protections under the law, so it is important to determine what type of lease your business is entering into.
“Retail leases differ from commercial leases because they have different regulatory frameworks,” said principal Vic Cuoco who established the practice CVC Law and Conveyancing.
