In April 2008, the former directors of International Finance Corporation Pty Ltd (in liquidation) (IFC) were found guilty on several charges following investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). The directors were charged with having aided IFC issuing debentures to investors in breach of the Corporations Act. The charges related to 22 debentures […]
MEDIA RELEASE ISSUED BY SENATOR THE HON KIM CARR MINISTER FOR INNOVATION, INDUSTRY, SCIENCE AND RESEARCH On 28 April 2008 “… an innovative new online database developed by IP Australia that makes the breadth of Australian inventions more accessible …” was introduced. AusPat allows a one-stop access to Australian patent applications since 1979. Previously those […]
In Black and Black (2008) FLC 93-357 a financial agreement provided that the parties would purchase a home together after the wife received the proceeds of her personal injuries claim. If they separated, the home was to be sold and the net proceeds of sale divided equally between them. The husband wished to have the […]
In a 2008 case the Court of Appeal considered whether a decree for specific performance should have been made when there was no breach of contract, or a reasonable apprehension of breach. The appellant vendor was a share-title home unit company. The vendor and purchaser entered a contract for the purchase of shares allowing the […]
A tenant is holding over after the expiry of a fixed term for a retail shop. Negotiations are taking place for a new short-term lease for the tenant, since the landlord wishes to redevelop the premises soon. The landlord writes to the tenant to set out the proposed terms of the short-term lease and invoices […]
In a previous article we alluded to a reluctance on the part of some landlords of retail premises to issue leases to their tenants following amendments to the Retail Leases Act that prevented lease preparation cost recovery from tenants. While there is legislative protection for some tenants, their position is not comfortable. That is particularly […]
Many of us will remember that before the changes to the Retail Leases Act in 2006, landlords of retail premises could recover their legal and other costs of preparing formal leases from their tenants. The amendments severely limited that ability and some interesting practices have since developed. A natural consequence of the changes, but needless […]
The Australian Tax Office (“ATO”) has warned that co-owners of leased commercial property, acting as a tax law partnership or in an individual capacity, may need to review their GST registration. The ATO sets out its views on when a tax law partnership carries on the enterprise as opposed to when each owner carries on […]
There is recent case law authority in the form of an NSW Court of Appeal decision for the notion that an option for renewal of lease can be exercised orally even where the lease stipulates that the option must be exercised in writing. That position is quite clearly not one that tenants would wish to […]
Where parties had lengthy negotiations about a lease site for use to conduct outdoor advertising but the draft leases were unsigned, the NSW Supreme Court has held that the lack of intention to be immediately bound was fatal to there being an agreement for lease. That is despite some of the draft leases having been […]
