Retail Shop Leases Amendment Bill introduced

After four years in development , the Retail Shop Leases Act Amendment Bill 2014 was introduced into Parliament this week.

Stemming from a 2011 discussion paper, the Bill has been developed in conjunction with an industry reference group on which the Property Council, and Shopping Centre Council of Australia have been represented.

The key objectives of the review were to identify opportunities to improve the efficiency of the Retail Shop Leases Act, reduce red tape and compliance costs and to examine the balance of negotiating power between lessees and lessors.

 

There are still a number of matters and categories for exclusion that were supported by the majority of the reference group but have not been considered within the Bill. The Property Council will continue to advocate for these issues during the review of the Bill by the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee. The Committee reporting date is 2 February 2015.

The Bill can be found here and the explanatory notes can be found here.