Leasing and Property Newsletter – July 2018
Published on July 5, 2018 by Alex Collie, Matthew Rafferty and Paul Carroll
In this edition our team report on the following topics:
- Assignment – can the landlord refuse consent based on the assignee’s insufficient financial resources?
- A Contentious Middle Ground: The new Low Rise Medium Density Housing Code; and
- The push for planning centralisation – Recent developments in “ePlanning”
Assignment – can the landlord refuse consent based on the assignee’s insufficient financial resources?
AVC Operations Pty Ltd v Teley Pty Ltd [2018] VCAT 931
In this Victorian case, the landlord sought to refuse consent to a assignment of lease based on the proposed assignee’s financial resources. The landlord considered the proposed assignee did not have sufficient financial resources to meet the obligations of the lease. The Tribunal needed to decide whether the landlord was entitled to refuse consent on that basis and whether it was reasonable for the landlord to refuse consent.
Matthew Rafferty, Partner
A Contentious Middle Ground: The new Low Rise Medium Density Housing Code
A common refrain for Sydney’s residential expansion has been to push for more medium density housing. This is not entirely unsurprising as it fits in as a neat compromise between the sprawl created by low density residential and the bulky towers of dense residential. To help promote this new residential middle ground, the State government has introduced the Low Rise Medium Density Housing Code to simplify the process of obtaining planning consent for certain medium density residential developments. However, not everyone is excited by this change and some councils have already pushed to be excluded from the new planning rules.
Alex Collie, Lawyer
Paul Carroll, Partner
The push for planning centralisation – Recent developments in “ePlanning”
It is no secret that the NSW Department of Planning and the Environment is pushing for matters of planning to be both more readily accessible online and more centralised. Changes in legislation hint towards the Department’s Planning Portal website becoming a “one-stop shop” for planning information and processes. Last year, the draft Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (ePlanning) Regulation 2017 was publicly exhibited and on 1 June 2018, the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (ePlanning – Complying Development Certificates) Regulation 2018 (ePlanning CDC Regulation) was passed.
Alex Collie, Lawyer
Paul Carroll, Partner
