News
MORTGAGE FRAUD & TITLES OFFICE CAVEAT
# Pre-Purchase Due Diligence & Buyer Beware # It's a homebuyer's worst nightmare … purchasing the dream family home and moving in, only to find out years later it was never really yours. After a six-year legal saga, an Appeal Court unanimously...
LEASE TERMINATION UNLAWFUL
COVID HANGOVER - Landlords who refused to negotiate COVID relief with their tenants for rent relief during the emergency response period remain at risk over demands on tenants to pay arrears or for having taken unlawful rent recovery action. Consider this account of a...
QLD RESIDENTIAL RENT INCREASE FREQUENCY NOW 12 MONTHS
Changes to limit rent increase frequency to once every 12 months came into effect for all new and existing tenancies on 1 July 2023. Rent cannot be increased unless it has been at least 12 months since the current amount of rent became payable by the tenant....
SUBSTANTIAL QLD DISCLOSER OVERHAUL PROPOSED
The Property Law Bill 2023 will replace the Property Law Act 1974 (PLA), introducing some of the biggest changes for the Queensland property industry in almost 50 years. It contains a new seller disclosure regime which will require sellers to disclose extensive...
ANOTHER ‘CHARACTER’ HOUSE DEMOLITION ALLOWED
The Qld Planning and Environment Court has yet again overruled Brisbane City Council refusal to allow the demolition of a supposed ‘character' house, in this instance for redevelopment into two lots. Judge Catherine Muir said in her judgement .. “As the above...
QLD LAND TAX CHANGES SCRAPPED
The Qld Govt has sensibly responded to massive property industry pressure to abandon its idea of including interstate landholdings in calculating Qld Land Tax. Queensland had passed a new tax law on 24th June that would allow the government to calculate land tax...
NO LEASE – NO RESUMPTION COMPENSATION
Business Owner-Occupier Alert. An Appeal Court has again confirmed that even if the owner of a property and the business therein are the same, the business may not be entitled to resumption compensation (relocation, loss of profits, etc) if there is no formal lease...
TOOMBUL TORRENT TERMINATES 140 TENANTS
Check your lease and premises for flood and damage risks. Following the catastrophic flooding of a major northside Brisbane shopping icon in February, the centre owners have now terminated all retail leases saying no compensation would be payable. The ASX-listed...
LIBERAL ESTIMATE – RESUMPTION COMPENSATION
A Qld Court has again confirmed that: Compensation should be ‘resolved in favour of a more liberal estimate.’ Where practicable, discretion should be exercised in favour of the claimant to achieve a just result. The Court’s function in assessing compensation is...
LEASE PREMISES DESCRIPTION – “SUFFICIENT CERTAINTY” ?
An Appeal Court has ruled that Leased premises need not be described with absolute precision to satisfy the test of “sufficient certainty”. The property concerned a three-storey commercial building with very high exposure on the corner of Chapel St and Dandenong Rd in...
LEASE RENT DETERMINATION INVALID
A Qld Supreme Court has ruled a Valuers Determination invalid for not properly interrupting the requirements of the Lease concerning the meaning of “immediate vicinity”,” suburb or town”. This case highlights the preference for Valuers to seek advice where such...
BAYSIDE ‘CHARACTER’ HOUSE DEMOLITION ALLOWED
Market Valuation of historic or character homes potentially subject to heritage type restrictions can be challenging. A successful Appeal against a Brisbane City Council refusal to permit demolition, provides some further clarity. The central issue was whether the...
RETAIL SHOP LEASES LEGISLATION PREVAILS
An Appeal Court has confirmed that a ‘retail premises lease’ cannot cease to be a retail lease even if the initial criteria that qualified it as falling under the legislation, may change during the term of the lease. Key issues included the annual occupancy cost...
COURT REJECTS ‘EXPERTS’ REPORT
A Supreme Court has again highlighted the requirements for experts (including Valuers) when providing evidence. This case involved a comprehensive report prepared by a team of environmental consultants considering damage arising from potential metal toxification of...
LEASE TERMINATION DEMOLITION CLAUSES
A NSW Appeal has overturned an earlier ruling about whether the Landlord had a genuine proposal to terminate a lease for demolition purposes. Whilst Retail Leases legislation varies from State to State, there are similar provisions concerning lease termination for...
ANOTHER LEASE INCENTIVE RECOVERY FAILURE
A lease dispute involving Melbourne’s famous Hopetoun Tea Rooms in the iconic Block Arcade is yet another reminder of perils associated with lease incentives. Whilst this was a complicated involving other matters, the VCAT Tribunal essentially followed the 2014 Qld...
NO RESUMPTION COMPENSATION FOR BUSINESS LESSEE (again)
A Court of Appeal has overturned the $2M loss of profits resumption compensation previously awarded to the Lessee of a small long-established highway roadhouse largely because of an oral arrangement that included an expectation of renewal based on the relationship...
VALUE OF LEASE INCENTIVES SCUTTLES $81.2M DEAL
An argument over how the value of lease incentives should be treated in the settlement documents ultimately torpedoed the contract of a commercial office complex opposite the Royal Brisbane Hospital. It highlights how lease incentives can potentially have unforeseen...