Business Transactions and Structuring

Get Legal Advice

Protect Your Business

Your sale or new business acquisitions should follow proper legal process to ensure you get the protections to need.

Learn More

Experienced Business Lawyers

Our team of solicitors are well versed in business transactions. This includes purchase and sale of businesses, such as restaurants and cafés but also includes professional business like Accounting Firms, Law Firms and Real Estate Agencies involving important long term client relationships.

Onboarding new business partners or exiting an existing partnership is also something that we handle with care and diligence. Having seen where companies and partnerships fall apart, we are well placed to ensure you have the appropriate safeguards in place to handle those difficult circumstances should they arise in your existing or new business venture.

Simple and complex contract drafting

Business Acquisitions and Sales

Share Sales and corporate structuring

Landlord’s Consent requests

Liability limiting Business and Corporate Structuring

Who should pay the Landlord’s legal costs for my lease?

It is common for a tenant to be requested to pay the Landlord’s legal cost however be mindful that the Retail Shop Leases Act prohibits the Landlord from requiring that the Tenant pay for its legal costs associated with documentation relating to a new lease or any renewal of a lease.
How important is it to exercise a lease option for further tenure?

It is extremely important for a Tenant and a Landlord for a Tenant to exercise an option for further tenure strictly in accordance with the Lease. Failure to adhere to the correct procedures in the Lease, including required notices within a given period or prior to a given date, will mean that the Tenant will lose its entitlement to the extra tenure. Many tenants and landlord seek legal advices to ensure the further tenure is properly secured.
Is registration of my lease important?

Registration is more important for a Tenant than a Landlord. It provides the Tenant with surety that its lease must be acknowledged by other third parties that become the owner or controller of the property (such as a Buyer of the property or mortgagee in possession). If your lease is over three years (including options) in length then you should register it. It is also common for a Landlord’s mortgagee to require registration of leases.
Is a Retail Shop Lease all that different to a typical commercial lease?

In Queensland, there is no ‘standard’ leases that must be used for commercial leases. This means all leases will be different and should be reviewed in full. The Retail Shop Leases Act provides the Tenant with certain protections and placed certain obligations upon Landlords, regardless what the Lease itself says. It is often useful to seek legal advices to understand those obligations and rights more fully as failure to be aware may result in compromise of the binding nature of a lease or some of its terms.
Are there requirements for entry condition reports in commercial or retail leases like there is with Residential Tenancy Agreements?

Not in Queensland, no. However, it is a very good idea for the parties to generate and agree on an entry condition report to record entry condition of a Premises anyway. This will help avoid or settle arguments about vacating obligations when the Tenant comes to an end. Because each lease is somewhat different, it is always a good idea to seek legal advices about the obligations upon a Tenant when it comes time for the Tenant to leave the Premises.

Case Study: Sale Contract Included Restraint Provisions

Amy needed to sell her beauty parlour business but continue to work within the industry so she had continued control over her livelihood. We were able to ensure that Amy’s sale contract included restraint provisions that provided the Buyer with sufficient comfort about protecting its interest in the business they were buying while ensuring that Amy was able to continue utilising her learnt skills in the industry in a new business closer to her home.