Queensland Consolidated Acts

RETAIL SHOP LEASES ACT 1994 - SECT 38B

38B Audited annual statement of outgoings

(1) The lessor under a retail shop lease must give the lessee a statement in the approved form of the lessor’s apportionable outgoings (the
"audited annual statement" ).

(2) The audited annual statement must be given to the lessee within 3 months after the end of the period to which the outgoings relate.

(3) The audited annual statement must—

(a) be prepared by a registered auditor in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the Australian accounting profession; and

(b) contain the auditor’s opinion on whether the statement presents fairly the lessor’s apportionable outgoings for the accounting period to which it relates in accordance with the lessor’s financial records and this Act; and

(c) compare the annual estimates of the lessor’s apportionable outgoings with the amount actually spent by the lessor for the outgoings during the period; and

(d) compare the total amount actually spent by the lessor for apportionable outgoings during the period with the total amounts actually paid by lessees to the lessor during the period.

(4) The outgoings shown in the audited annual statement must be itemised so that the amount shown for each item is not more than 5% of the total outgoings shown in the statement.

(5) However, the amount shown for an item may be more than 5% of the total outgoings if the item relates to—

(a) a charge, levy, rate or tax payable under an Act; or

(b) an outgoing that can not be further itemised to comply with subsection (4) .

(6) If the retail shop is in a retail shopping centre, the audited annual statement must also include the total management fees paid by the lessee broken down into fees paid by the lessee towards the administration costs of running the centre and any other fees paid to a centre management entity.

(7) The audited annual statement may relate to more than 1 lessee as long as each lessee to which it relates is able to find out from the statement information that is relevant to the lessee.

(8) If a person becomes the owner of a retail shopping centre, or building containing a retail shop, the first audited annual statement given by the person may be made for a period of less than 1 year.