Retail leases amendment act 2019

Status Passed and Assented to. See full list on hwlebsworth. Broadly speaking the Bill proposes to make the following changes: 1. Landlords must return security deposits within days. It had been commercial practice for some time for landlords to pass on the costs of repairs and maintenance of essential services within a building to retail tenants as outgoings. President Garde’s opinion was that s. However, it does have considerable support based on two VCAT decisions in which VCAT made the same determination.

Under the current legislation the landlord must give a Disclosure Statement to prospective tenants days before the entry into a lease. The Bill requires that Disclosure Statements be given to a retail tenant days before they enter into a lease and mandates that the Disclosure Statement include a copy of the proposed lease. The purpose of this changes is to allow retail tenants more time to negotiate a lease with the landlord.

In the case of renewing tenants, the Bill requires landlords to set out any changes between the current Disclosure Statement and the most recent statement given to that tenant. The proposed bill amends s 24(1) (d) of the Act to clarify that a tenant’s security deposit must be returned within days after the end of the lease. The bill proposes to change the timeframe that a landlord is required to notify a tenant about the last date for the tenant to renew its lease. The Bill requires a landlord to notify the retail tenant of the last date by which an option may be exercised at least threemonths before that date (which is down from six months under the current legislation).

In addition, landlords will be advised to inform tenants of: 1. Any changes to the most recent Disclosure Statement they have given the tenant. The bill introduces new sections 28A which allows early market rent reviews. Where the lease provides for a market rent review and a landlord has served the notice of review the Tenant may request an early rent review. If the Tenant requests a review, the last date before which the Tenant can exercise an option to renew is postponed until the Tenant is aware of the market rent determinate. This change is designed to ensure that Tenants are aware of the rent they will be paying prior to exercising an option to renew.

The Bill introduces new section 28B, which provides that if a tenant has not requested an early market rent review and has exercised an option to renew, they will be entitled to a cooling-off period of days, during which they can elect not to continue with the option to renew. The requirement to return security deposits within days will apply to leases entered into before the passing of the Act. The updated requirements to give disclosure statements will also apply to existing leases unless there are fewer than days between the Bill entering into force and the end of the tenancy.

The requirement for a landlord to give more information before an option to renew a lease is exercised will apply to existing leases unless there are fewer than three months between the Bill entering into force and the last date to exercise an option to renew. All other parts of the Bill, such as those which allow landlords to recover for the costs of essential services will come into force on the day the Act receives Royal Assent. This means that landlords will not be able to retrospectively recover for costs of essential works that they had already carried out.

The Bill is currently before the Victorian Legislative Assembly (Lower House). A Second Reading speech has been given, but the Bill has not yet been debated. There may be amendments to the version of the Bill that will ultimately be passed. We will provide further updates as the Bill progresses in due course. It will be easier for business owners to understand their leases and get money back in their pocket quicker under amendments to the Retail Leases Act introduced into Parliament today.

The latest Victorian Government boost to the sector stands to benefit tens of thousands of business operators. The changes will enable businesses to move quicker as they develop and expan remove confusion around legal obligations and lease terms and conditions, and enhance building safety. Buy printed copy of Act.

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The proposed amendments to the Retail Leases Act have been reasonably well publicise the subject of various articles largely extolling the virtues of the Bill for retail tenants. New section 1provides that the amendments made by clause of the Bill, which introduce additional requirements for disclosure statements provided under section 26(1) of the Retail Leases Act, apply to retail premises leases in operation at the time clause comes into operation, unless at that time there is less than days before the end of the current term of the lease. The main purposes of the Bill are to: amend the Building Act and the RLA to clarify the obligations of landlords and tenants of retail leases in respect of essential safety measures.

These amendments are separate to the recent legislative changes made in response to the COVID-pandemic and the Retail Leases Amendment.