Retail Lease Lawyers

Retail Lease Review

A retail lease lawyer reads the lease and the disclosure statement before you sign, against your state’s retail leases Act. Each state’s Act changes what’s required before a retail lease is signed:

• The landlord must give you a disclosure statement before you enter the lease. In most states it must be a set number of days before: 14 in Victoria, and 7 in NSW, Queensland and WA.
• In Queensland, you must give the landlord a Form 11 financial advice report from an accountant and a Form 12 legal advice report from a lawyer, unless an exclusion applies. Our review comes with a signed Form 12.
• In Victoria, a lease must run for at least five years unless you give up that right with a waiver certificate from the Victorian Small Business Commission.

What we check

• Rent and rent reviews. The starting rent, the review method and dates, and review clauses the Act doesn’t allow.
• Outgoings. What you pay in addition to rent, whether it matches the disclosure statement, and costs the Act stops the landlord recovering. In some states that includes land tax.
• Make good. What you must do to the shop when the lease ends.
• Personal guarantee and security. Who is guaranteeing the lease, for how much, and the bond or bank guarantee.
• Options to renew. How many, for how long, and how and when to exercise them.
• Assignment. How you transfer the lease if you sell the business, and when you and your guarantors are released.

We also check that the disclosure statement was given on time and matches the lease, and look at the permitted use, trading hours, shopping centre rules and relocation or demolition clauses.

What you get back

You get written advice in plain English: the key terms, the clauses that put cost or risk on you, and the changes we suggest you ask for. We answer your questions about it. If you want us to negotiate the changes with the landlord or their lawyer, we confirm the fee for that first.

We generally send the advice within 24–72 hours of receiving the lease and disclosure statement.

How much does a retail lease review cost?

A retail lease review is a fixed fee. In Queensland, that includes the signed Form 12.

Send us your lease

Retail Lease Drafting

If you are the landlord, the retail leases Act in your state sets what you must give the tenant and when. Most states require a landlord’s disclosure statement before the lease is entered into, and the lease can’t contract out of the Act. We prepare the documents from the terms you have agreed.

What’s included

• The lease, written to comply with your state’s Act.
• The disclosure statement, in the form your state requires, with the outgoings estimate.
• An incentive deed, if you are giving rent-free time, a rent reduction or a fitout contribution.
• Registration on title, where the lease needs it.

We also tell you about any information booklet you must give the tenant, the rules on holding the bond (in NSW a cash bond is lodged with NSW Fair Trading within 20 business days) and whether your mortgagee needs to consent.

We generally send a first draft within 24–72 hours of receiving the agreed terms. We quote one fee for drafting a retail lease, including the disclosure statement.

Can I use a template?

You can, but the risk is higher than with other leases. Each Act overrides lease terms that conflict with it, sets what the disclosure statement must contain and, in several states, stops the landlord charging the tenant for the cost of preparing the lease. A template written for another state, or before the Act last changed, can leave you with terms you can’t enforce. If you start from one, have it checked before the tenant signs.

Enquire about lease drafting

Fixed fees

We work on fixed fees, not hourly rates. Tell us what you need and we confirm the fee in writing before we start, along with any government fees or other costs. For a dispute, we quote each stage before it starts. This applies to:

• retail lease review, including a signed Form 12 in Queensland
• retail lease drafting, including the disclosure statement
• franchise lease review
• a disclosure statement on its own
• advice on a five-year waiver in Victoria
• assignment of lease and lease registration
• lease dispute advice

Ask for a quote

How it works

1. Enquire online. Tell us whether you are the tenant or the landlord, and which state the shop is in.
2. Send the lease and disclosure statement, or the agreed terms. We confirm the fee.
3. For a review, we send written advice and any state form you need, such as a Form 12. For drafting, we send the lease and disclosure statement for you to give the tenant.
4. We answer your questions and work through any changes the other side asks for.
5. Once the disclosure period has passed, everyone signs electronically. If the lease needs registering, we arrange it.

There is no need to come in. Everything is done online.

Other lease services

Franchise lease review

Franchisees often sign a sublease or licence from the franchisor, tied to the franchise agreement and a head lease you may not see. We check how the three fit together and what happens if the franchise ends. Franchise lease review

Disclosure statements

The disclosure statement sets out the rent, outgoings and other key terms, and each state has its own form and timing. We prepare statements for landlords and check them for tenants: Queensland, Victoria and NSW.

Queensland forms and outgoings

A Queensland tenant must give the landlord a Form 11 financial advice report and a Form 12 legal advice report before entering a retail shop lease, unless an exclusion applies. The Retail Shop Leases Act also limits which outgoings a landlord can recover, and requires an annual estimate and an audited annual statement. Retail shop lease outgoings in Queensland

Minimum lease terms

Victoria sets a five-year minimum term. A tenant can give it up only with a five-year waiver certificate from the Victorian Small Business Commission, and we can advise you on whether to ask for one. In Western Australia, a lease of more than 6 months but less than 5 years gives the tenant an option to renew for up to 5 years in total. Retail lease minimum term in WA

Assigning a retail lease

The Acts set a process for asking the landlord’s consent, limit the grounds for refusing it and say when the outgoing tenant is released. We act for the seller, the buyer or the landlord in Queensland, Victoria and NSW.

Registering a retail lease in NSW

In NSW, the landlord must lodge a retail lease of more than 3 years, including options, for registration within 3 months after the tenant returns it signed. We tell you whether yours needs it and lodge it. Retail lease registration in NSW

Retail lease disputes

In most states, a retail lease dispute goes to mediation through the state’s small business commissioner before it can go to a tribunal. In Queensland that is the Queensland Small Business Commissioner, then QCAT. Retail shop lease disputes in Queensland

Enquire Online

Retail leases Acts by state

Each state and territory has its own retail leases law. It decides which premises are covered, what the landlord must disclose and how disputes are handled.

For a summary of the main rules side by side, read retail lease laws in Australia by state.

If your premises are not retail, such as an office, warehouse or industrial site, the Act usually doesn’t apply. See our commercial lease lawyers page instead.