Whatever a lease needs,
that's what we do.
A lease is the document your business depends on from the day you sign to the day you leave. A lot of lease trouble starts on signing day, not later. We draw up, check and negotiate commercial and retail leases right across Australia, with the whole term in mind.
Retail or commercial.
It changes everything.
Heavily protected
If the premises are a retail shop, or sit inside a shopping centre, your state's retail leasing law will usually apply, subject to size, term and other exclusions that differ by state. Those protections sit on top of the contract. In NSW the Act overrides the lease, so they can't be written out, and other states have their own rules on this. Either way, a landlord who ignores them can hand the tenant the right to walk away, claw back money, or take the dispute further.
- The landlord has to give a disclosure statement before the lease is signed
- In NSW, key money is banned and some charges, like capital costs and depreciation, are void
- In NSW the landlord can't pass on its cost of preparing the lease, apart from changes the tenant asks for later
- Outgoings have to be disclosed, then reconciled each year
- Rent review clauses have limits
- Disputes usually go to mediation first, not straight to court
Whatever the lease says
Offices, warehouses, industrial units and most non-retail space sit outside that protection. The deal is whatever the lease says it is. That freedom runs both ways. There's no safety net, so the wording is the only thing standing between you and an outcome you didn't mean to agree to.
- No required disclosure, so the homework is on you
- Term, options and the rent review are all up for negotiation
- You pay only the outgoings the lease makes you pay, so the wording decides how much comes across
- Make good usually turns on the lease wording, and in NSW the law fills the gap if the lease is silent
- Who pays the landlord's preparation costs comes down to the deal
- Disputes are decided in court under the lease and the general law
Not sure which one you've got? That's the first thing we'll tell you, before anything else gets decided.
We act for landlords
and for tenants.
Protect the property and the income
Your lease is what turns a property into income. We write it to protect that income: the rent, the use of the space, and what you get back at the end of the term.
- Drawing up the lease and the agreement for lease
- Retail disclosure and outgoings done properly
- Bank guarantees, security deposits and personal guarantees
- Consents to assign, sublet and change of control
- Breach notices, re-entry and recovering arrears
- Make good at the end of the term
Know the deal before you sign
You're committing years of your business's income to someone else's building. We read every clause, flag what actually costs you money and negotiate what's worth changing.
- A proper read and plain advice before you sign
- Negotiating rent reviews, options and incentives
- Checking outgoings, make good and fitout obligations
- Heads of agreement and letters of offer up front
- Exercising options and handling renewals
- Getting out: surrender, assignment, selling the business
What a leasing lawyer
actually does.
Heads of agreement
Before the lawyers draw anything up, the deal usually gets set out in a letter of offer or heads of agreement. Get this wrong and you'll be arguing about it for the rest of the term. We check the headline deal is captured properly, and flag anything that could lock you in before you mean to be.
Drawing up the lease
A lease built from a clean, current precedent and shaped around your deal. Permitted use, term, options, rent and reviews, outgoings, repairs, insurance, assignment and make good, all written to do what you actually want.
Checking a lease
You've been handed a lease and told to sign. We read all of it, flag every clause that could hurt you, and tell you which points are worth pushing on and which aren't. You get a clear recommendation at the end, not a pile of things to worry about.
Agreements for lease
When the lease only starts once something else happens, like a fitout, an approval, or building work finishing, the deal needs an agreement for lease. We set the conditions, the timing, and what happens if a condition isn't met.
Retail disclosure
For retail premises the landlord has to give a disclosure statement before the lease is signed. Get the numbers or the categories wrong and the tenant picks up rights against you. We prepare disclosure that matches the lease and the real costs, so it's far less likely to come back on you later.
Rent reviews
CPI, a fixed percentage, market review, or a mix of them. Each one behaves very differently over a five or ten year term, and retail leases limit what's allowed. We set the review up so you can see in advance how the rent is likely to move over the term.
Options to renew
Options are easy to miss, usually because the window is short and the wording is fussy. For tenants, we set out how and by when to exercise an option. For landlords, we handle the notice obligations.
Outgoings
Outgoings are where tenants quietly lose money. We negotiate to narrow what can be passed on, check the estimates against the disclosure, and check the yearly reconciliation when it arrives, so you're not paying for the landlord's capital works dressed up as running costs.
Assignment and transfer
Selling the business usually means handing the lease to the buyer, and that needs the landlord's consent, plus updated disclosure for retail. We handle the consent, the assignment deed, and the question that matters most: whether you're let off the hook or still on it after you've gone.
Subletting
Letting part or all of the space to someone else while you stay on the head lease. It can be a handy pressure valve or a trap, depending on the head lease. We draw up the sublease so it sits cleanly underneath.
Variations and renewals
Deals change. Rent gets renegotiated, space expands, terms get extended. We put variations and renewals into proper deeds, so the change is properly recorded and doesn't quietly reset something else in the lease. Here's our plain-English guide to a deed of variation.
Make good and exit
The end of a lease is where the surprise bills show up. Strict make good can run into tens of thousands. We tell you what you're really on the hook for, negotiate the make good terms for you, and handle surrenders and early exits.
Security and guarantees
Bank guarantees, cash bonds and personal guarantees are the landlord's protection and the tenant's risk. We draft and check the amount, the trigger and the release, and for retail we keep them inside what the law allows.
Registration
Leases longer than three years usually should be registered with the state land registry, which protects the tenant's interest if the land changes hands. For a NSW retail shop it's compulsory once the term, counting options, is over three years. We prepare and lodge it, and sort out any mortgagee consent that's needed.
Disputes
When a lease goes wrong, where you run it and how you run it both matter. Retail disputes usually go to mediation first, then to a tribunal or court. Commercial disputes go to court. We act on arrears, breaches, repair fights, bond claims, terminations and unfair conduct, and we'll tell you early if a point isn't worth chasing. We handle the negotiation, the mediation and NSW retail claims at NCAT. If a dispute needs a court, or a tribunal in another state, we'll tell you early and work with local counsel or a litigator.
An agreement for lease,
in under a minute.
LEASE ON TRIAL
Cessnock City Council v 123 259 932 Pty Ltd: money spent on a promised lease
A $3.7 million hangar. The Council got it for $1.
Read the transcript
A company built a three point seven million dollar hangar. Years later, the Council got it for one dollar.
The Council agreed to a thirty-year airport lease once a subdivision was registered, and promised all reasonable steps to register it. The company built meanwhile.
The Council wouldn't spend about one point three million on the sewer. No registration, no lease. The company sued.
At trial, one dollar. In the Court of Appeal, the hangar's cost plus interest, over six million.
The High Court dismissed the appeal. The Council's breach left it unclear whether the money would have been earned back, so the court assumed it would. The Council couldn't show otherwise.
Spending before your lease is granted? Keep records, and get advice before you build.
Get your deal reviewed. theleasinglawyer.com.au
Dramatised from the published reasons of the High Court of Australia. General information, not legal advice.
The protections you
can't sign away.
Retail tenants get a safety net that commercial tenants don't. The trade-off is that landlords carry real obligations from before the lease is even signed.
These points come up in a lot of retail disputes. We help landlords meet them and tenants use them. For the rules where your property actually is, we've broken it down state by state.
See the rules in your stateDisclosure before signing
The landlord has to give a disclosure statement before the lease is entered into. Miss it or get it wrong and the tenant can often walk away early.
Charges that are off the table
In NSW, key money is prohibited, and a clause making the tenant pay capital costs, depreciation or interest on the landlord's borrowings is void.
Limited preparation costs
In NSW the landlord can't make the tenant pay its costs of preparing the lease, apart from a reasonable charge for changes the tenant asks for later on. A tenant who's paid what they shouldn't have can get it back.
Outgoings discipline
Outgoings have to be disclosed, then reconciled each year. Outgoings that weren't disclosed generally can't be recovered.
Restricted rent reviews
In NSW the lease can't let one side choose the method, can't use a 'higher of' formula, and can't stop a market review from bringing the rent down.
Mediation first
In NSW, most retail disputes go to mediation first, then to NCAT, which is usually quicker and cheaper than court. Other states have their own steps.
The clauses that
cost people money.
Make good
A strict reinstatement clause can mean stripping the space back to bare shell at the end of the term. Tenants sign it without pricing it. We tell you what it would really ask of you before you commit, and negotiate the clause for you.
The rent review you didn't model
A fixed four per cent rise compounds. Over a ten year term it lifts the rent by more than 40 per cent. The clause looks small at signing and very large by year eight.
Outgoings with no cap
Open-ended outgoings let a landlord pass on costs you never agreed to carry. Narrowing the definition at the start is far cheaper than arguing about it later.
The missed option
Options have a window and a method. Exercise late or in the wrong form and the right can be lost, along with the goodwill tied to the location. Diary it, do it properly.
Personal guarantees
A guarantee can outlive the lease itself and follow you for years after you've left the business. Tenants rarely read this clause. It's one of the most important.
Retail disclosure slips
For landlords, a faulty disclosure statement isn't a technicality. It can hand the tenant the right to walk and to claw back money. Worth getting right the first time.
How we work.
What you can count on.
Scope
We find out what you need and agree a fixed price before anything starts.
Read everything
Every clause of every document. We build the advice from the lease in front of us, not from a template or a memory of a similar deal.
Advise and negotiate
You get a clear position and a recommendation. Where there's another side, we negotiate to it instead of just listing problems.
Sign and register
Final documents, signing, and registration where the term needs it. Then the file closes and you know where you stand.
Most leasing work is one fixed price, agreed before we start, so you know the cost before you commit. Where a matter genuinely can't be fixed, we agree an hourly rate up front. See our fees.
Whatever your situation,
there's a place to start.
I'm a landlord
Protecting your property and your income, start to finish.
Take me thereI'm a tenant
Know exactly what you're signing before you sign it.
Take me thereRetail leases
Your rights as a retail landlord or tenant, state by state.
Take me thereWhat it costs
Most work is one fixed price, agreed in writing before we start.
Take me thereSend us the lease.
We'll quote
a fixed price.
Whether you're signing, drawing something up, renewing or trying to get out, the best time to get advice is before you commit, not after. Send us the document and a line about the deal, and we'll quote a fixed price for the work before anything starts.
We'll reply to your enquiry within one business day.
Scan with your phone's camera to save our contact details.
Just so you know, sending us a message, a question or a lease doesn't mean we're officially your lawyer yet. That happens once we've agreed in writing to work together. We treat what you share with us as confidential, even at this early stage. Our privacy policy explains who helps us handle it. The information on this website is general in nature. It's a good starting point, but it's not the same as advice for your specific situation, and retail leasing rules differ from state to state. The Leasing Lawyer is a trading name of DOCET LEGAL.