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ARTICLE · 11 APRIL 2020

E-Alert: Government intervention for commercial leases

Broadley Rees Hogan Lawyers
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The government has proposed a possible rewrite of commercial lease terms in an attempt to manage the impacts of COVID-19.

AustraliaReal Estate and Construction
Erin Priest
Erin Priest
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On Sunday 29 March 2020 the federal government took a step that is seldom seen – the possible rewrite of commercial lease terms to endeavour to manage the impacts of COVID-19.

This event is so significant that it changes everyone's focus. The freedom to bargain is under watch – courts seldom interfere in contracts and rewrite them and apart from consumer protections afforded to tenants under retail lease legislation, little is mandated for commercial leases. And assuredly, the proposals put forward are a long way from settled. All tenants would love a mandatory rent holiday. They come easily when landlords are incentivising the start of the lease bargain. Yet the consequences of a mass number of commercial lease vacancies is too frightening to imagine. The streets are already ghostly and building foyers echo silence and the spectre of the home office may just be an everlasting one.

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