Harmonising retail tenancies across Australia

The Australian Government is working with states and territories to explore possible reforms under National Competition Policy, including more consistent retail tenancy rules across Australia.

Retail leases are agreements between landlords and businesses for shops and other commercial premises. They affect many small businesses, including franchisees, retailers and service providers.

Why we are consulting

States and territories regulate retail leasing. While their rules often have similar goals, they do not always operate in the same way.

Different rules and processes can create extra costs and complexity, particularly for businesses and landlords that operate in more than one state or territory.

Greater consistency may:

• reduce compliance costs

• improve transparency

• make leasing requirements easier to understand

• help businesses and landlords operate across jurisdictions.

Have your say

We want to understand which parts of retail tenancy regulation work well and where greater consistency may help.

We are interested in views on:

• retail leasing rules or processes that could be better aligned across states and territories

• differences that create costs, delays or uncertainty

• whether greater consistency would improve transparency and understanding

• how changes could affect tenants, landlords, property owners and other stakeholders

• risks, costs and implementation issues governments should consider.

We welcome feedback from:

• small businesses

• franchisees

• landlords and property owners

• industry bodies

• advisers

• regulators

• state and territory governments

• other interested stakeholders.

Why your feedback matters

Your feedback will help Treasury advise the Australian Government on whether a more consistent approach to retail leasing could improve outcomes.

This consultation does not assume that all retail tenancy rules should be the same across Australia. We are seeking evidence about where greater consistency may be useful and where differences remain appropriate.