We are delighted to announce Natalie Talia, Senior Associate, is now a Law Institute of Victoria Accredited Specialist in Wills & Estates, and James Francis, Senior Associate, a Law Institute of Victoria Accredited Specialist in Workplace Relations. Read More
On 22 March 2020, the Federal Government announced temporary regulatory measures to help financially distressed businesses get through the COVID-19 pandemic and come out the other side. On 7 September 2020 an extension to that relief was announced, set to expire on 31 December 2020. The Government also announced a proposal for major reforms to corporate insolvency laws for incorporated businesses, with liabilities of less than $1 million, which are facing financial distress. The proposed major reforms are to support small business recovery after the expiry of the temporary COVID-19 insolvency law relief at the end of this year. Read More
The obligations of a tenant to pay rent, care for the premises and obey the provisions of a lease are secured by the landlord’s ability to terminate for breach and take possession of the premises. This right of termination affords limited protection as the breaches are usually substantial before action is taken. Ensuing proceedings can be protracted. Therefore, when entering a commercial lease, it is prudent for a landlord to require the performance of a tenant’s obligations to be secured by a bond, a bank guarantee and/or where the tenant is a company, personal guarantees from its directors. Read More
Grants of probate and letters of administration should become almost impossible to misplace, thanks to a recently introduced Victorian system which is swapping paper for digital documents. The Supreme Court recently launched the new online eFiling system, RedCrest-Probate, in a bid to make the probate application process more efficient. Read More
Important amendments to the COVID-19 Omnibus (Emergency Measures) (Commercial Leases and Licences) Regulations 2020 (Vic) have now come into effect. Here we outline the new information regarding rent relief that both tenants and landlords need to know. Read More
Attention landlords and tenants - substantial changes have been made to the Victorian Retail Leasing Legislation. Note that six of the main changes involve ESMs, the landlord’s obligation to provide the tenant with a disclosure statement and the copy of the proposed lease, return of security deposits, option notices, market rent reviews on renewal of lease and cooling off. Read More