Commercial Lease Lawyers in Box Hill, Melbourne
From our Box Hill office, our lawyers act for tenants and landlords of shops, offices and other business premises on new leases, renewals, assignments and disputes. The best time to call is before you sign. Many Victorian business leases are retail leases, and the Retail Leases Act 2003 gives their tenants protections that no lease clause can remove.
Spencer Alexander Lawyers is a Box Hill, Melbourne law firm acting for tenants and landlords of shops, offices and other business premises on commercial and retail leases, with the principal overseeing every matter.
- Many Victorian business leases are retail leases, and the Retail Leases Act 2003 prevails over any clause in them that conflicts with it.
- The landlord must give a retail tenant the disclosure statement and proposed lease at least 14 days before the lease is entered into.
- Most retail lease disputes cannot go to VCAT until Victoria's Small Business Commission certifies that mediation has failed or is unlikely to resolve them.
Who we act for
Leases for shops, offices and business premises.
We act for tenants taking premises for the first time, businesses renewing or moving, owners selling a business with its lease, and landlords letting premises. People usually call when a lease arrives to sign, an option date is close, a rent review or outgoings bill looks wrong, or a dispute has started over repairs, rent or the end of the lease. The best time to call is before you sign.
Whether the Retail Leases Act applies is the first question in any lease. A lease it does not cover is governed mainly by its own terms, without most of the protections on this page, which our guide to retail leases in Victoria explains.
How we help
What we do on a lease.
Reviewing a lease before you sign
We read the lease with any disclosure statement, tell you in writing what its rent, outgoings, option, make good and guarantee clauses commit you to and what to change, and negotiate the changes if you want us to.
Leases for landlords
We prepare leases and, for retail premises, the disclosure statement the Act requires, and we draft them to comply with the Act, because a clause that conflicts with it is void to that extent.
Assigning a lease when a business is sold
Under a retail lease the landlord can refuse consent only on grounds the Act lists, such as a buyer it considers lacks the financial resources or business experience to meet the lease's obligations. Where the business carries on, the seller and its guarantors are not liable for the buyer's obligations if the seller gives the landlord and the buyer an accurate and complete disclosure statement.
Renewals, rent reviews and disputes
We check the landlord's notices before an option date, act on market rent reviews, where an experienced retail valuer sets the rent if landlord and tenant cannot agree, and act in disputes at the Small Business Commission, at VCAT and in court.
Time limits
The dates that matter in a retail lease.
The 14 days for disclosure run to the day the lease is entered into, which the Act treats as the first of everyone signing, you moving in with the landlord's consent or you starting to pay rent. If the statement and proposed lease arrive less than 14 days before that day, the lease term is taken to start 14 days after you receive them.
If you enter into the lease without having been given a disclosure statement, you can give the landlord written notice of that between 7 and 90 days afterwards. You then owe no rent from the day of your notice until the statement arrives, and you can give notice ending the lease at any time until 7 days after it arrives. If the statement is misleading, false or materially incomplete, or you were not given the proposed lease as the Act requires, you can give notice ending the lease within 28 days of the latest of receiving the statement, receiving the proposed lease and entering into the lease.
Either notice ends the lease 14 days after you give it, unless within those 14 days the landlord objects that it acted honestly and reasonably and ought fairly to be excused, and that you are substantially as well off as if it had complied. If you do not tell the landlord in writing within 14 days of its objection whether you accept it, you are taken to have accepted it and the lease continues. The Retail Leases Act gives no way to extend any of these periods.
Your first call
What to have with you when you call.
Whatever you have to hand: the lease or the draft you have been sent, any disclosure statement, and any letters or notices from the other side or an agent, with your questions. If you have little on paper, that is fine too. The first conversation is about understanding your situation, not testing your paperwork. We can speak by phone or video, or meet at Suite 10, 1 Main Street, Box Hill, a short walk from Box Hill station, with parking at Box Hill Central.
What to expect
How a retail lease is entered into.
Fees for lease work.
A lease review for a tenant is from $990 including GST, for a written summary of the terms that matter and, for a retail lease, the disclosure statement, with recommended changes and a call to go through it. A non-standard lease or more than one premises costs more. Leases for landlords, negotiations, assignments and disputes are not priced on our fees page, so each is estimated in writing before substantive work begins.
Good to know
Common questions about commercial leases.
Is my lease a retail lease?
The Retail Leases Act treats it as one if, under the lease, the premises are used wholly or mainly for selling or hiring goods, or providing services, by retail, which can include clinics and offices. Exceptions include tenants that are listed companies or their subsidiaries, occupancy costs above a limit set by regulation and most leases for less than a year.
What am I signing on the disclosure statement?
In the form the regulations set, your signature only acknowledges that you received it, and the statements in it are the landlord's. Read it with the proposed lease before you sign either, because the lease can make you pay towards the fit out only if the statement disclosed that cost.
Can a retail lease be shorter than five years?
Generally not. A retail lease must run for at least five years, counting the options it gives you from the start, and a shorter one is extended to meet that minimum. The main exception is a waiver certificate you obtain from the Small Business Commission and give to the landlord.
Can my landlord charge me land tax?
Under a retail lease, generally not. A clause passing on the landlord's land tax or commercial and industrial property tax is void, and so is one charging its depreciation or the interest on its borrowings. Its capital costs are excluded too, apart from capital works you agree to carry out yourself and some essential safety measure costs.
Who pays the legal costs of preparing the lease?
Under a retail lease, the landlord cannot recover its own legal or other costs of negotiating, preparing or signing the lease from you, although it can recover its reasonable costs of an assignment or sub-lease, including checking the incoming tenant.
Sources: Retail Leases Act 2003 (Vic), sections 4, 7, 11, 12, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 28, 37, 41, 42, 44, 50, 51, 60 to 62 and 94, and Part 10; Retail Leases Regulations 2023 (Vic), regulations 6 and 7 and Schedules 1 and 2.
This page reflects the law applying in Victoria as at September 2026. It is general information only, not legal advice, and does not take your circumstances into account.
Speak with a commercial lease lawyer.
Call with the lease in front of you, and we will tell you what a review covers and what it will cost.