Do you own or rent a retail shop? Are you fully aware of your obligations under the Retail Shop Leases Act?
I'm Shaun Briffa from Argon Law, and today I'll share part one of some often-forgotten provisions of the Act.
Did you know that the Act requires the lessor to provide the lessee with written notice of an upcoming option exercise date? If the lessee has an option to renew or extend, the lessor must give the tenant at least two months' notice and not more than six months' notice.
To this end, it is vital that the tenant's option exercise date and the lessor's notice dates be clearly diarised upon signing of the lease. Where a tenant exercises an option, the lessor must provide a current disclosure statement within seven days. The tenant can waive this requirement, but let's assume they don't.
Once the tenant receives the disclosure statement, the tenant can withdraw their exercise of the option within fourteen days. The right applies whether or not the renewed lease period has commenced. Next month, in part two of my series on leasing, I'll discuss the scenario in which there is no option to renew or extend.
Thank you for watching, and please don't hesitate to visit or call us at Argon Law with any of your leasing questions.