ADVICE & DISPUTES

Resolving Lease
Disputes

A dispute between a landlord and a tenant can be very costly, protracted and disruptive to business and a landlord and a tenant are always best advised to take a pragmatic and commercial approach when attempting to resolve a dispute.

A dispute of a Retail Lease may only be the subject of legal proceedings if the Registrar of the Retail Tenancy Unit has first certified in writing that mediation between the parties has failed to resolve the dispute or that mediation is unlikely to resolve the dispute.  The Retail Leases Act virtually compels a landlord and tenant to engage in mediation.
 
The Residential Tenancies Act has special provisions relating to the resolution of disputes.
 
It is always open to the parties in a Commercial Lease to agree to mediate a dispute.  A landlord and tenant of a Commercial Lease should consider whether a compulsory mediation clause should be contained in the Lease they negotiate.
If a dispute cannot be resolved by mediation or agreement then it often results in legal proceedings which can be conducted in a number of forums including the Administrative Decisions Tribunal, the District Court and the Supreme Court.  This website emphasises the fact that a well drafted Lease using plain English can avoid disputes and prevent the parties from being involved in legal proceedings. 
Lease Advice & Disputes - Lease Hub