Property Law
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My last post considered Richmond Football Club Ltd v Verraty Pty Ltd [2019] VSC 597 (Verraty) with particular reference to this question: Do terms implied into a “retail premises lease” by the Retail Leases Act 2003 appear in a renewed lease following the exercise of an option where the renewed lease is not a “retail premises
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This post is a revised version of a post published on 7 November 2025. Please ignore the earlier post. If a lease is a “retail premises lease” governed by the Retail Leases Act 2003 (Vic) but upon renewal the lease is not a “retail premises lease”, is the renewed lease affected by the lease having been a
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Parties to long term leases sometimes attempt to avoid the application of the Retail Leases Act 2003 by purporting to invoke the Ministerial Determination of 24 August 2004 made under s.5(1) of the Act. The Act applies to a “retail premises lease” (s.11(1)) which is not a defined expression. However, the expression “retail premises” are defined in
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Deposits hold a special place in contracts for the sale of land and do not fall within the general rules about penalties. Where a purchaser defaults the deposit (customarily 10 per cent) can be forfeited even though the amount of the deposit bears no reference to the anticipated loss to the vendor flowing from the
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What is the extent to which a contract is under the “control of the court” after an order for specific performance is made in favour of a vendor of land, the purchaser fails to comply with that order and the vendor then seeks vacation of the order and leave of the court to obtain damages
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Where an owner of land is struggling to pay loans secured over the land it is not uncommon for the owner to enter into a lease with a related party in an attempt to avoid losing control of the land should the mortgagee enter possession and attempt to sell the land. The questions which arise
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In Gayed & Anor v Yuan [2024] VSCA 85 the Victorian Court of Appeal confirmed that: The purchasers bought land for $3,190,000 and paid a deposit of 10% of the purchase price, being $319,000. Three weeks before settlement the purchasers’ solicitor advised the vendor that the purchasers would be approximately $160,000 “short” of the balance needed to
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The Supreme Court of Victoria has ruled that a lease that is a “retail premises lease” (within the meaning of s.11 of the Retail Leases Act 2003) when it is entered into cannot cease to be such a lease during its term. In Richmond Football Club v Verraty [2019] VSC 597. Croft J upheld an
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Today I posted an article about Verraty Pty Ltd v Richmond Football Club [2019] VCAT 1073. I have had queries about paragraph (i) where I said: “where the commencing rent under a new lease does not exceed $1,000,000 for the first 12 months, before the lease is entered into the landlord should make an estimate
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The High Court has resisted an invitation to expand the grounds on which a party can enforce an oral contract for the sale of the land on the ground of part performance. Legislation in each State and Territory requires that contracts for the sale of land meet certain formal requirements if they are to be
