Is my lease a ‘retail shop lease’ covered by the Retail Leases Act, 1994 NSW?
The Retail Leases Act, 1994 of New South Wales regulates retail lease transactions in New South Wales and provides a range of provisions that apply automatically to any leases that are ‘retail shop leases’.
The Retail Leases Act gives us a definition of retail shops that are covered by the Retail Leases Act, 1994. They are:-
- Premises used to carry on a business in a retail shopping centre; or
- Premises used for any of the following businesses – basically businesses that provide by retail to the public, goods or services for sale or hire:-
see Retail Leases Act 1994-Schedule-1 for a list of prescribed retail businesses.
The following retail shop leases are exempt from the operation of the Act:-
- shops that have a lettable area of 1,000 square metres or more;
- shops that are used wholly or predominantly for the carrying on of a business by the lessee on behalf of the lessor;
- any shop within premises where the principal business carried on on those premises is the operation of a cinema, bowling alley or skating rink and the shop is operated by the person who operates the cinema, bowling alley or skating rink;
- any premises in an office tower that forms part of a retail shopping centre;
- premises of a class or description prescribed by the regulations as exempt from this Act.
