At AMC Lawyers we can guide landlords and tenants through the often complex administration that is Retail and Commercial leases.
Not all leases are created equal. Retail and commercial leases are far more complex than residential leases. Whether you are a landlord or a tenant, it is extremely important that the terms and conditions match your requirements and expectations.
At AMC Lawyers we can guide you through the terms of your lease to ensure there is no negative impact on your business.
We can help you by:
There are distinct legal differences between retail and commercial leases. Retail leases have governing legislation which is significantly more onerous on a landlord than that governing a commercial lease. The three main differences:
Commonly in the form of actual money and equivalent to one or two months rent, a security deposit is a sum, that the tenant agrees to provide to the landlord as a way to secure the tenant’s performance of their obligations under the lease. Retail lease legislation requires the landlord to lodge any security deposit with the Director-General of the Department of State and Regional Development.
Commercial leases do not require the landlord to deal with security deposits in the same way as retail leases. Commercial landlords may deal with the security deposit as they see fit provided it is paid in part or in full if required under the lease.
Typically a commercial lease is for premises which are engaged in the activity of buying and selling, such as a warehouse, an industrial site, or an office which has no retail activity.
A retail lease applies to premises where the nature of the business is to sell goods such as a restaurant. They are generally found in shopping centres or areas where there are 5 or more shops co-located.
