New South Wales Consolidated Acts

RETAIL LEASES ACT 1994 - SECT 3

3 Definitions

(1) In this Act--

"authorised deposit-taking institution" means an authorised deposit-taking institution within the meaning of the Banking Act 1959 of the Commonwealth.

"business day" means any day except Saturday or Sunday or a day that is a public or bank holiday throughout the State.

"Department" means the Department of Customer Service.

"exercise" of a function includes the performance of a duty.

"function" includes a power, authority or duty.

"GST" has the same meaning as in the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 of the Commonwealth and includes notional GST of the kind for which payments may be made under section 5 of the Intergovernmental Agreement Implementation (GST) Act 2000 by a person who is a State entity within the meaning of that Act.

"key-money" means any money paid to or at the direction of a lessor or lessor's agent, by way of a premium, non-repayable bond or otherwise, or any benefit that is conferred on or at the direction of a lessor or lessor's agent, in connection with the granting, renewal, extension or assignment of a lease (and a reference in this Act to the payment of key-money includes a reference to the conferral of any such benefit).

"lawyer" means a barrister or solicitor.

"lease preparation expenses" means legal or other expenses incurred by the lessor in connection with the preparation or entering into of a retail shop lease including expenses incurred in connection with obtaining the consent of a mortgagee but does not include registration fees under the Real Property Act 1900 .

"lessee" means the person who has the right to occupy a retail shop under a retail shop lease, and includes a sublessee and a lessee's or sublessee's heirs, executors, administrators and assigns.

"lessee's disclosure statement" means a statement referred to in section 11A.

"lessor" means the person who grants or proposes to grant the right to occupy a retail shop under a retail shop lease, and includes a sublessor and a lessor's or sublessor's heirs, executors, administrators and assigns.

"lessor's disclosure statement" means a statement referred to in section 11.

"lettable area" of a retail shop does not include--

(a) car parking spaces, or

(b) storage areas not attached to the retail shop premises where the business of the shop is or is to be carried on.

"licensed conveyancer" means the holder of a licence in force under the Conveyancers Licensing Act 2003 .

"listed business" means a business prescribed for the purposes of paragraph (a) of the definition of
"retail shop" (including a business for the time being specified in Schedule 1).

"outgoings" --see section 3A.

"party" means the lessor or the lessee under a retail shop lease.

"permanent retail market" --see section 6B.

"premises" includes a defined area (for example, a stall in a market) in a building or other permanent structure.

"Registrar" means the Registrar of Retail Tenancy Disputes referred to in Part 8.

"retail shop" means premises that--

(a) are used, or proposed to be used, wholly or predominantly for the carrying on of one or more of the businesses prescribed for the purposes of this paragraph (whether or not in a retail shopping centre), or

(b) are used, or proposed to be used, for the carrying on of any business (whether or not a business prescribed for the purposes of paragraph (a)) in a retail shopping centre.

Note 1 : Sections 5 and 6B limit the retail shops to which this Act applies.

Note 2 : Clause 17 of Schedule 3 provides that the businesses specified in Schedule 1 are taken to be prescribed for the purposes of paragraph (a) of this definition until regulations prescribing businesses and repealing Schedule 1 are made.

"retail shop lease" or
"lease" means any agreement under which a person grants to another person for value a right of occupation of premises for the purpose of the use of the premises as a retail shop--

(a) whether or not the right is a right of exclusive occupation, and

(b) whether the agreement is express or implied, and

(c) whether the agreement is oral or in writing, or partly oral and partly in writing.

Note : Sections 6, 6A and 84B limit the retail shop leases to which this Act applies.

"retail shopping centre" means a cluster of premises (not being the stalls in a market) that has all of the following attributes--

(a) at least 5 of the premises are used wholly or predominantly for the carrying on of one or more listed businesses,

(b) the premises are all owned by the same person, or have (or would if leased have) the same lessor or the same head lessor, or comprise lots within a single strata plan under the Strata Schemes Development Act 2015 ,

(c) the premises are located in the one building or in 2 or more buildings that are either adjoining or separated only by common areas or other areas owned by the owner of the retail shops,

(d) the cluster of premises is promoted as, or generally regarded as constituting, a shopping centre, shopping mall, shopping court or shopping arcade.

"retail specialty shop" means a retail shop referred to in paragraph (a) of the definition of
"retail shop" , other than a department store, a supermarket or premises of a kind prescribed as excluded from this definition by the regulations.

"Secretary" means the Secretary of the Department.

"specialist retail valuer" means--

(a) for the purposes of a valuation under this Act relating to a retail specialty shop in a retail shopping centre having both--

(i) 20 or more retail specialty shops, and

(ii) a total of lettable areas of retail specialty shops that exceeds 1,000 square metres,

a valuer having not less than 5 years' experience in valuing retail specialty shops in shopping centres of that kind, or

(b) for the purposes of a valuation under this Act relating to any other retail specialty shop or any other retail shop, a valuer having not less than 5 years' experience in valuing retail shops.

"strata levies" means contributions levied under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 or any other Act relating to strata schemes.

"Tribunal" means the Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Note : Part 9 contains other provisions that affect the interpretation of this Act.

Note : The Interpretation Act 1987 contains definitions and other provisions that affect the interpretation and application of this Act.

(2) A reference in this Act to the lessor or the lessee, in the context of a provision that has application to a proposed retail shop lease, includes a reference to the proposed lessor or proposed lessee.