A lease is usually the biggest financial commitment either side signs without much say in how it was written. Landlords set the framework, tenants react to it, and the fine print on rent reviews, make-good, options and outgoings ends up mattering a lot more than either side expected at signing.
We act for both landlords and tenants on commercial and retail leases across Queensland, from a single shopfront through to multi-tenant portfolios. Because construction is one of our core practices, we bring a genuinely practical understanding of fitout, works and building compliance to leasing deals, not just contract drafting.
Before anyone signs a full lease, it’s common to lock in the deal points with an agreement for lease. That’s the right move where fitout works need to happen first, development approvals are still pending, or the premises don’t exist yet.
An agreement for lease that’s loosely drafted causes more disputes than the lease itself. Conditions precedent, sunset dates, who pays if approvals are delayed, and what happens if the deal falls over midway all need to be nailed down properly. We draft and negotiate these for both landlords and tenants, with an eye to what actually goes wrong in practice, not just what the precedent says.
A lease drafted purely from a precedent, with the names swapped in, tends to favour whoever wrote it and cause problems for whoever didn’t read it closely enough.
For landlords, we focus on protecting the asset: rent review mechanisms that actually work, sensible default and remedy provisions, control over assignment and subletting, and terms that hold up if the tenant’s business changes hands or structure.
For tenants, we focus on protecting the ability to trade: exclusivity and permitted use, realistic outgoings caps, workable make-good obligations, and options that are actually capable of being exercised when the time comes. We act for both sides (never on the same deal) and know where the pressure points usually sit.
Options to renew look straightforward until someone misses the exercise window. Courts can occasionally grant relief where a deadline’s been missed, but that’s not something you want to rely on to save a lease. We track option dates, advise on how and when to exercise them properly, and negotiate the renewal terms and market rent review that follow.
Where there’s no option left, or it’s already lapsed, we advise on renegotiating from scratch, including on how that shifts the leverage in the landlord’s or tenant’s favour.
Incentives, rent-free periods, fitout contributions and reduced rent in the early years, are how a lot of retail and commercial deals actually get done. The commercial terms are usually agreed quickly. The documentation is where it can go wrong.
We draft incentive deeds and lease clauses that tie the benefit to the tenant actually trading for the agreed term, with clear clawback if they walk away early, and make sure the incentive doesn’t create unintended tax or security issues down the track. For landlords, that protects the value of what’s been given away. For tenants, it means knowing exactly what has to be repaid, and when, if things don’t work out.
This is where our construction background actually earns its place in a leasing transaction, rather than just being a line on the website. Fitout and works clauses need to say, in practical terms, who’s responsible for base building versus tenant fitout, what approvals are needed and who’s chasing them, how variations and delays get handled, and what standard the premises need to be handed back in.
We’ve seen enough fitout disputes to know that vague words like “good condition” or “in accordance with the landlord’s requirements” cause more arguments than they prevent. We draft works and make-good provisions specific enough to actually be enforced, and can coordinate directly with builders and certifiers where that’s useful.
Retail leasing in Queensland carries disclosure obligations that don’t apply to a straightforward commercial lease. Where the premises fall within the Retail Shop Leases Act 1994 (Qld), landlords generally need to give tenants a disclosure statement before the lease is signed, and there are restrictions on some of the terms that can be included.
Getting the disclosure wrong, or missing it altogether, can hand the tenant grounds to walk away from a lease well after it’s started. Working out whether premises are actually caught by the Act isn’t always obvious either. Plenty of leases that look commercial are caught by it, and plenty that look retail aren’t. We advise landlords on getting disclosure right the first time, and tenants on what their disclosure statement should have told them and what to do if it didn’t.
We act primarily on Queensland leases. If your premises is interstate, the disclosure regime will be different, so tell us early so we can flag what applies.
