Robert Hay KC Blog

Commercial Lease

  • “Retail premises leases” cannot jump out of the Retail Leases Act 2003

    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

    Read more →

  • “Jumping out” the Retail Leases Act – a clarification

    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

    Read more →

  • ‘Ultimate consumer test” remains one of the indicia of the retail provision of services

    The CB Cold Storage and IMCC Group saga has ended. This morning the High Court of Australia refused the landlord’s application for special leave to appeal. The consequence is that the Court of Appeal’s decision in IMCC Group (Australia) Pty Ltd v CB Cold Storage Pty Ltd [2017] VSCA 178 stands and practitioners can draft

    Read more →

  • Retail Leases Act 2003 (Vic) likely to apply where tenant provides a service

    Where a tenant provides services from leased premises in accordance with the permitted use the lease is likely to be a “retail premises lease” and therefore governed by the Retail Leases Act 2003 (Vic). In every case it is necessary to identify precisely the service being provided, consider what activity is permitted under the lease

    Read more →

  • Unfair term provisions provide tenants with a new weapon

    Tenants with less than 20 employees will soon have a new weapon in disputes with landlords as a result of amendments to the Australian Consumer Law: they will be able to challenge a term in a lease that is  “unfair”. The legislation effecting the changes, the Treasury Legislation Amendment (Small Business and Unfair Contract Terms)

    Read more →

  • Wife’s title as joint proprietor with husband not defeasible by reason of husband’s fraud

    In Cassegrain v Gerard [2015] HCA 2 the High Court of Australian had to decide whether a wife’s title as a joint proprietor with her husband was defeasible by reason of the husband’s fraud. The case contains an interesting discussion about when the fraudulent acts of an agent can be attributed to the principal and

    Read more →

  • Section 52 – when is the lease “entered into”?

    There is a translation key (widget) on the mirrored blog for ease of reading for non-English speaking members of the public or professionals. The mirrored blog can be found at http://roberthaybarrister.blogspot.com.au/   Section 52 of the Retail Leases Act 2003  is proving to be a difficult provision to apply. Section 52 implies into a retail premises lease a

    Read more →

  • When is the rent paid?

    There is a translation key(widget) on the mirrored blog for ease of reading for non-English speaking members of the public or professionals. The mirrored blog can be found at http://roberthaybarrister.blogspot.com.au/   Disputes often arise about whether the tenant has paid the rent by the due date in accordance with the lease. The problem usually arises where a

    Read more →

Instagram / TikTok / X

Designed with WordPress