NTIn ForceAct
Business Tenancies (Fair Dealings) Act 2003
79Unconscionable conduct of landlord in retail shop lease
Start here
Get a plain-English read of 79
Turn the raw legal text into a practical explanation grounded in Business Tenancies (Fair Dealings) Act 2003.
79 Unconscionable conduct of landlord in retail shop lease
transactions
(1) A landlord must not, in connection with a retail shop lease, engage
in conduct that is, in all the circumstances, unconscionable.
(2) Without limiting the matters to which a court may have regard in
determining whether a landlord has contravened subsection (1), the
court may have regard to the following:
(a) the relative strengths of the bargaining positions of the
landlord and the tenant;
(b) whether, as a result of conduct engaged in by the landlord, the
tenant was required to comply with conditions that were not
reasonably necessary for the protection of the legitimate
interests of the landlord;
(c) whether the tenant was able to understand any documents
relating to the lease;
(d) whether undue influence or pressure was exerted on, or unfair
tactics were used against, the tenant or a person acting on
behalf of the tenant by the landlord or a person acting on
behalf of the landlord in relation to the lease;
Business Tenancies (Fair Dealings) Act 2003 54
(e) the amount for which, and the circumstances in which, the
tenant could have acquired an identical or equivalent lease
from a person other than the landlord;
(f) the extent to which the landlord's conduct towards the tenant
was consistent with the landlord's conduct in similar
transactions between the landlord and other similar tenants;
(g) the requirements of an applicable industry code;
(h) the requirements of another industry code, if the tenant acted
on the reasonable belief that the landlord would comply with
the code;
(i) the extent to which the landlord was willing to negotiate the
terms and conditions of any lease with the tenant;
(j) the extent to which the landlord unreasonably failed to
disclose to the tenant:
(i) intended conduct of the landlord that might affect the
interests of the tenant; and
(ii) risks to the tenant arising from the landlord's intended
conduct (being risks that the landlord should have
foreseen would not be apparent to the tenant);
(k) the extent to which the landlord and the tenant acted in good
faith.