Landlords and Tenants - Is your lease a 'RETAIL SHOP LEASE'?
When talking about a lease of an area to operate your business from, these leases may be broken into 2 types:
When talking about a lease of an area to operate your business from, these leases may be broken into 2 types:
- ‘Retail shop leases’; and
- ‘Non-retail shop leases’ (often simply called commercial
leases).
In Queensland, retail shop leases are covered by a specific Act, the Retail Shop Leases Act 1994, which provides for special rules for retail shop leases. The main job of the Act is to provide equity (or fairness) in retail leasing. This is done, in part, by providing some extra rights/protections that do not exist under the general law.
You should not assume a lease is not a ‘retail shop
lease’ just because you feel the business does not sell ‘retail’ goods. The
definition set out in the Act requires careful reading and there are some
leases which are ‘retail shop’ even though you may not necessarily think of
them in that way.
Therefore, whether a lease is in the initial
negotiation stage, or if an issue or dispute has arisen during the life of the
lease, it pays to ask the question: Is this lease a ‘retail
shop lease’? The answers to a whole range of other questions can
depend on whether the Retail Shop Leases Act applies.
Happy leasing everyone!
P.S. Newsflash: On
Tuesday, 10 May 2016, the Retail Shop Leases Amendment Bill 2015
was passed, amending the Retail Shop Leases Act 1994.
These amendments have been in the works for some time. The changes will
only take effect six (6) months after the date of assent. So… watch this
space!