Commercial Leasing
Today, the Palaszczuk Government extended protections for commercial and retail leases to 31 December 2020, including the moratorium on evictions and rent increases.
pic: Cushman & Wakefield
The Amendment Regulation will:
extend the response period under the Regulation from 30 September 2020 to 31 December 2020 (with the period between those dates referred to as the extension period);
substantially preserve the current protections in the Regulation, with three main modifications:
remove the requirement that 50% of the rent reduction offered be by way of waiver for the extension period – this means that the rent reduction may comprise any combination of waiver and deferral, but must still be reached in accordance with all other obligations currently applying to lessors;
recognise negotiations that have already been agreed in respect of reductions in rent payable or other stated conditions of an affected lease in respect of the extension period – meaning any previous negotiations that give rise to obligations during the extension will not be automatically displaced by the Amended Regulation; and
and provide that a rent increase arising as a result of a review of rent under the lease during the response period or extension period cannot be given effect until after the end of the extension period – meaning rent cannot be increased during the extension period even if such an increase was agreed to under the current Regulation.
Please note that this relates purely to commercial and retail tenancies – it has no effect on residential tenancy.