TIPS FOR L ANDLORDS OF RETAIL PREMISESPART 2

As a landlord of commercial premises it is impor tant to identify what business your tenant will be carr ying out from your premises so that you can prepare a lease that will comply with the requirements of the relevant act involved

I n Queensland commercial leases generally speak ing come under two distinct areas; the first being retail shops which are governed by the Retail Shop Leases Act and the second being non retail shops governed by provisions of the Proper ty Law Act. I shall concentrate my discussion on leases that come under the Retail Shop Leases Act.

In par t 1 of this ar ticle I discussed the impor tance of Disclosure pursuant to the and giving the tenant early notice of the new market rental

When negotiating with your prospec tive tenant here are fur ther impor tant tips to keep in mind:

Notice about exercising Option Periods - there is an obligation on you as the Landlord to give the tenant notice that the time to take up the option period is coming up This notice must be given at least two months' prior to the option notice period detailed in the lease

Notice about No Option - if the lease does not contain any option period you must also give your tenant notice that the lease is coming to an end Failure to give such notice would result in the lease term automatically being extended by another six months from the time such notice is given by you!

Bond - you are entitled to request that a bond be paid by the tenant. The amount of bond payable is often around one month's rental

Legal Costs - you have to pay for your own legal costs for preparing the lease

Tenant is a Company - you should require that the directors of the tenant company be noted in the lease as guarantors If the Company folds then the guarantors must per form the tenant's obligations under the Lease