New South Wales Consolidated Acts

RETAIL LEASES ACT 1994 - SECT 11

11 Lessor's disclosure statement

(1) At least 7 days before a retail shop lease is entered into, the lessor must give the lessee a disclosure statement for the lease (the
"lessor's disclosure statement" ) that complies with the following requirements--

(a) the lessor's disclosure statement is to be in writing and is to be in or to the effect of Parts A and B of the form in Schedule 2 (the
"prescribed form" ),

(b) the lessor's disclosure statement is to include Part B of the prescribed form for the purposes of Part B being completed by the lessee and provided to the lessor as the lessee's disclosure statement (under section 11A),

(c) the lessor's disclosure statement must contain the information and be accompanied by the material that is required to complete or accompany Part A of the prescribed form (but only to the extent that is relevant to the lease concerned),

(d) the form of the lessor's disclosure statement is not required to comply strictly with the prescribed form (including its layout) so long as it is substantially to the same effect as the prescribed form.

: Maximum penalty--50 penalty units.

Note : Because the lessor's disclosure statement need only include information relevant to the lease, if the retail shop is not in a retail shopping centre the disclosure statement need not include information that is relevant only to shops in retail shopping centres.

(2) If a lessee was not given a disclosure statement as required by subsection (1) or if the disclosure statement that was given to the lessee was incomplete or contained information that at the time it was given was materially false or misleading, the lessee may terminate the lease by notice in writing to the lessor at any time within 6 months after the lease was entered into, unless subsection (3) prevents termination.

(2A) If the lessee terminates the lease in accordance with this section, the lessee is entitled to recover compensation from the lessor for costs reasonably incurred by the lessee in connection with the lessee entering into the lease, including compensation for expenditure by the lessee in connection with the fit-out of the retail shop.

(3) The lessee cannot terminate the lease under this section on the ground that the disclosure statement is incomplete or contains information that is materially false or misleading if--

(a) the lessor has acted honestly and reasonably and ought reasonably to be excused for the failure concerned, and

(b) the lessee is in substantially as good a position as the lessee would have been if the failure had not occurred.

(4) If a lease is entered into by way of the renewal of a lease, a written statement (a
"lessor's disclosure update" ) that updates the provisions of an earlier disclosure statement given to the lessee is, in conjunction with that earlier disclosure statement, considered to be a disclosure statement given for the purposes of this section at the time the lessor's disclosure update is given.

(5) The termination of a lease under this section does not affect any right, privilege, obligation or liability acquired, accrued or incurred under the lease in respect of any period before its termination.

(6) A lessor's disclosure statement may be amended with the agreement in writing of the lessor and the lessee before or after the lease is entered into and any such amendment has effect from the date specified in the agreement (which can be a date before the agreement is made).

Note : The Tribunal also has power to order the rectification of a lessor's disclosure statement. See section 72AB.