News and Insights

The new Bill to amend the Duties Act 2008 (WA) introduced into WA Parliament has now passed and is awaiting assent.  This means property buyers in WA will benefit from lower rates of duty. The changes will take effect on 1 July 2022 and will impact

Property buyers in Western Australia may get the benefit of lower rates of duty thanks to a new Bill to amend the Duties Act 2008 (WA) recently introduced into WA Parliament. A significant change for commercial property transactions is the proposed

The recent case of Thorn Australia Pty Ltd v Centuria Property Funds Ltd [2021] NSWSC 1217 (27 September 2021) is an example of the Court’s willingness to allow parties to walk away from lease negotiations, where the parties agreed they could do th

In late 2020, the Queensland Planning and Environment Court dismissed an application by a lot owner to appeal the decision notice of Cairns Regional Council made under the Planning Act 2016 (Qld) (Act), to approve the conversion of an exclusive use a

As the dust settles in Australia (at least, economically) following the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses small-to-large, are undoubtedly re-evaluating how and, importantly, where they operate.  One anticipated shift (and a persistent concern for landlo

With both landlords and tenants considering their circumstances due to COVID-19, inevitably many tenants will not be renewing their lease and either vacating their premises or downsizing their space requirements. As such, it is important all parties

Queensland’s new Body Corporate and Community Management Regulations came into force on Monday, 1 March 2021. The reforms are designed to streamline voting and management procedures, reduce body corporate costs, tweak committee rules and enhance pr

We have previously written about the effect of the Retail Shop Leases and Other Commercial Leases (COVID-19 Emergency Response) Regulation 2020 (Regulations), and their effect on retail and commercial leases in Queensland.  Last week, the Queensla

The Australian Bureau of Statistics released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures for the March 2020 quarter today (for the period 1 January 2020 to 31 March 2020). Both landlords and tenants may wish to: check their leases to see whether a CPI

On 8 April 2020, we wrote about the National Cabinet’s announcement  introducing the Mandatory Code of Conduct for SME Commercial Leases (Code). Each of the States and Territories have since taken steps to pass legislation on an expedited basis to

Last week we wrote about the 'hibernation' measures announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison on 29 March 2020 and the ‘common set of principles’ that had been developed. Since the initial announcement, the National Cabinet has worked with ind

Recently, HopgoodGanim Lawyers assisted a client in a commercial transaction that included the grant of leases over several premises, from several different landlords. To provide greater protection to our client, who was incurring considerable costs