Landlords – Back to Basics

The starting point for all Landlords should be ensuring that they have an appropriate and well drafted lease for their commercial premise. It is a crucial step for Landlords as a poor lease or a bad leasing decision can be a costly mistake. The lease is central to the goodwill, value and future sale of a business.  A well drafted lease can avoid or assist the Landlord in resolving disputes that they may have in the future with tenants.

In Western Australia, the Commercial Tenancy (Retail Shops) Agreements Act 1985regulates many retail shop leases. Landlords should understand their rights and obligations in relation to the lease and what procedures to follow in the event of any disputes.

In October 2015, the commercial leasing vacancy rate in the Perth CBD was 19.6%. This figure was expected to grow in early 2016 as final completions of new developments came onto the market and leasing space that was taken up during the boom, was handed back as businesses have downsized.

At its meeting today, the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Board decided to leave the cash rate unchanged at 2.0 per cent. The reasoning behind the decision was that recent information suggested the global economy is continuing to grow, though at a slightly lower pace than expected. This is the ninth month in a row that Australia’s official interest rate has remained unchanged at a record low 2 per cent.

The ramifications for Landlord’s entering into a bad or hastily drawn lease in this current climate is that they may find that they have an invalid lease or they may experience significant disputes and as well as potential litigation in later years as a result. When interest rates do start to rise in the coming years, we are likely to see a large number of disputes concerning rent reviews.

Legal and commercial advice should therefore be obtained before:

• making any commitments to lease, take on an assignment or incur any other obligations;
• signing an offer to lease or any other lease related document;
• payment/receipt of any deposit or other monies; or
• occupying the leased premises.

If you are a Landlord looking to lease in this competitive market, you should begin by considering your leasing requirements with the main goal to develop a profitable business. Once you have identified your leasing requirements (i.e. the lease term, annual rent, rent reviews, etc) you must then seek to include as many of these requirements as possible when negotiating the terms of a new lease or the renewal of a lease with the tenant.