Following on from previous articles on the same, this in-depth update from Property and Commercial Special Counsel Alex Bentancor takes a look at the current Retail and Commercial Lease landscape within NSW, as we move into another year of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This piece covers a range of relevant information for commercial and retail landlords, as well as tenants, including:

• Retail and Other Commercial Leases (COVID-19) Amendment Regulation 2021 (‘2021 Regulations’);
• Retail and Other Commercial Leases (COVID-19) Regulation 2022 (‘2022 Regulations’);
• “Leasing Principles” to be followed by landlords;
• Prescribed Actions by landlords that are prohibited by the Code; and
• Amended 2021 Regulations.

Despite the increasing rates of COVID-19 vaccination across Australia, issues surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine and the workplace remain at the forefront of conversation; particularly given the mandating of vaccines within some industries and states. 

Authored by Holman Webb Lawyers Workplace Relations Partner Alicia Mataere and Associate Lee Pike, this guide is designed to walk you through the issues relating to COVID-19 vaccines and the workplace, to assist in your understanding of whether the vaccine is mandatory for your workplace, and if not, to help you decide whether you can/should make vaccines mandatory within your workplace.

Despite the increasing rates of COVID-19 vaccination across Australia, issues surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine and the workplace remain at the forefront of conversation; particularly given the mandating of vaccines within some industries and states. 

Authored by Holman Webb Lawyers Workplace Relations Partner Alicia Mataere and Associate Lee Pike, this guide is designed to walk those within the Aged Care industry through the issues relating to COVID-19 vaccines and the workplace, to assist in your understanding of whether the vaccine is mandatory for your workplace, and if not, to help you decide whether you can/should make vaccines mandatory within your workplace.

Despite the increasing rates of COVID-19 vaccination across Australia, issues surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine and the workplace remain at the forefront of conversation; particularly given the mandating of vaccines within some industries and states. 

Authored by Holman Webb Lawyers Workplace Relations Partner Alicia Mataere and Associate Lee Pike, this guide is designed to walk those within the Education and Care industry through the issues relating to COVID-19 vaccines and the workplace, to assist in your understanding of whether the vaccine is mandatory for your workplace, and if not, to help you decide whether you can/should make vaccines mandatory within your workplace.

Despite the increasing rates of COVID-19 vaccination across Australia, issues surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine and the workplace remain at the forefront of conversation; particularly given the mandating of vaccines within some industries and states. 

Authored by Holman Webb Lawyers Workplace Relations Partner Alicia Mataere and Associate Lee Pike, this guide is designed to walk those within the Building and Construction industry through the issues relating to COVID-19 vaccines and the workplace, to assist in your understanding of whether the vaccine is mandatory for your workplace, and if not, to help you decide whether you can/should make vaccines mandatory within your workplace.

Despite the increasing rates of COVID-19 vaccination across Australia, issues surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine and the workplace remain at the forefront of conversation; particularly given the mandating of vaccines within some industries and states. 

Authored by Holman Webb Lawyers Workplace Relations Partner Alicia Mataere and Associate Lee Pike, this guide is designed to walk those within the Transport industry through the issues relating to COVID-19 vaccines and the workplace, to assist in your understanding of whether the vaccine is mandatory for your workplace, and if not, to help you decide whether you can/should make vaccines mandatory within your workplace.

On 14 July 2021, the NSW Government passed the Retail and Other Commercial Leases (COVID-19) Regulation 2021 which limited the exercise of certain rights by a lessor under retail and other commercial leases for a breach of the lease if:

• the lessee is a business that qualifies for certain grants due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; and
• the breach is a prescribed breach that occurs between 13 July 2021 and 20 August 2021.

Despite this, the 2021 Regulations did not initially provide for rent relief (waiver or deferrals of rent), or prohibit the increasing of rent under a lease as the Regulations made in 2020 did - they only prohibited landlords from taking certain "Prescribed Action" against a tenant between 13 July 2021 and 20 August 2021.   On 13 August 2021, in response to the surge of COVID-19 cases, the NSW Government passed the Retail and Other Commercial Leases (COVID-19) Amendment Regulation 2021 which:

• extended the Prescribed Period to 13 January 2022 (so that the Prescribed Period became the 6 month period from 13 July 2021 to 13 January 2022); and
• re-introduced the requirement for landlords and tenants to renegotiate the rent payable under Impacted Leases, in order to take into account the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the leasing principles set out in the Code.  

This update from Property and Commercial Special Counsel Alex Bentancor takes a look at the latest changes, and how they're set to impact both retail and commercial landlords and tenants.

Join Professor Catherine Bennett, Deakin’s Chair of Epidemiology and Holman Webb Workplace Relations Partner Alicia Mataere and Associate Lee Pike on Thursday 26 August as they discuss:

• How has Delta changed the game?
• How can businesses manage the risk of Delta in the workplace?
• Can you ask employees to declare their vaccination status?
• What are the potential consequences of a Delta outbreak in your workplace?
• What will the workplace look like following COVID-19 and Delta?

Click through to register your attendance today!

On 25 June 2021, the High Court of Australia refused two insurers special leave to appeal the decision of the NSW Court of Appeal in HDI Global Specialty SE v Wonkana No 3 Pty Ltd [2020] NSWCA 296.

The NSW Court of Appeal unanimously held that insurers could not rely on an exclusion clause contained in certain policies to refuse indemnity for business interruption claims arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first test case does not mandate a blanket approach to policy coverage for all business interruption claims. Each will turn on the language of each policy wording and the circumstances of each claim.

Insurers have sought further judicial guidance on a number of other matters affecting the operation of business interruption policies in the context of COVID-19 in a second test case, due to be heard by the Federal Court later this year.

This article was originally published by the Law Society of New South Wales in the Law Society Journal, Issue 80 August 2021.

The 16 July 2021 decision in LNCP002 Pty Limited v Akcin [2021] NSWSC 848 has highlighted the obligations of lenders and financiers to act fairly and in good faith with respect to borrowers in mortgage lending, and to do what they have promised to do.