Retail Lease Lawyer Perth
Retail lease lawyers for Perth businesses. We review and draft retail shop leases for landlords and tenants under the Commercial Tenancy (Retail Shops) Agreements Act 1985 (WA).
- Fixed fee lease review.
- Disclosure statements and the 5-year option.
- Online, no need to come in.
We act for landlords and tenants of WA shops, wherever their business is based.
What the WA Act requires
The Act applies to most leases of retail shops, including shops in shopping centres. A lease can’t contract out of it. The main rules are:
- Disclosure statement. The landlord must give you a disclosure statement and a copy of the proposed lease at least 7 days before you enter the lease.
- 5-year option. If the term, counting any options, is more than 6 months but less than 5 years, the Act gives you an option to renew so the total can reach 5 years, unless an exception applies. You choose whether to use it. See our page on the retail lease minimum term.
- Outgoings. The landlord can only recover the outgoings the lease specifies. It must give you an estimate and an annual statement of what was spent.
- Assignment. The landlord can’t unreasonably refuse consent to an assignment of the lease when you sell the business.
Does the Act cover your lease?
Not every shop lease is covered. Some larger premises, and some tenants such as listed public companies, fall outside the Act. If yours does, the lease is an ordinary commercial lease and only its own terms apply. We confirm which applies before we advise.
Checking the term and options
For tenants, we review the lease and the disclosure statement together and check that they match. We look at rent and rent reviews, outgoings, make good, the personal guarantee, options and assignment.
We check the term and options against the 5-year rule, and tell you whether the statutory option applies and how to exercise it. You get written advice and a list of points to raise with the landlord.
Getting the lease right from the start
For landlords, we draft the lease and the disclosure statement, and tell you when they must go to the tenant. We set up the term and options so that they work with the statutory option to renew, and the outgoings clauses so that they match what you’ll report each year.
Disputes
The Small Business Development Corporation (SBDC) offers dispute resolution help, including mediation, for retail tenancy disputes. If the dispute isn’t resolved, it can go to the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT).
Taking on or granting a retail lease?
Send us the lease and the disclosure statement, or the terms you've agreed, and we'll tell you the next step.
- Fixed fees.
- Online, Australia-wide.
- Landlords and tenants.