We have substantial experience in acting for landlords and tenants in relation to leasing matters. We negotiate and prepare all types of tailored lease agreements and provide practical advice and representation.

This includes preparing agreements for lease, leases (including compliance with the Retail Leases Act), assignment and variation of leases and subleases.

This includes the complex leasing and licensing structures used in aged care and retirement villages.

We assist clients in navigating the intricate process of purchasing property through SMSFs, including compliance with borrowing regulations through limited recourse borrowing arrangements (LRBAs). We can prepare and stamp bare trust deeds and provide guidance and assistance with structuring property transactions, negotiating contracts, conducting due diligence, preparing loan documents, and ensuring compliance with SMSF borrowing requirements.

We assist owners and developers to understand and comply with strata and community title legislation during the life-cycle of a strata title or community title development. This includes the construction and registration of the development through to the day to day management of the scheme.

We provide guidance to other lawyers and conveyancers, owners corporations, town planners and surveyors on matters such as strata and community plan preparation (including preparing section 88B instruments, by-laws, strata management statements and community management statements), disclosure requirements, and statutory obligations.

Further, we assist owners corporations and community associations in resolving disputes among owners, including issues related to maintenance and repairs, financial matters, and breaches of by-laws.

We have dealt with all types of unusual and complex transactions and we are experts at documenting special arrangements to minimise legal risk.

This experience includes:

1. Acting for developers to acquire sites for future development, including under heads of agreements, option agreements and implementing development agreements, project delivery agreements, joint venture agreements and pre-sale or pre-commitment agreements to secure the sale or lease of the properties.

2. Preparing and advising on partition agreements, boundary adjustment agreements and land swap agreements to allow the mutual transfer of land.

3. Preparing co-ownership agreements and joint venture arrangements to govern the shared ownership and development of commercial properties and manage such matters as contributions, decision-making, dispute resolution, partition and transfer issues.

4. Subdivisions, consolidations, covenants and easements, including advising in relation to existing easements and covenants on title, assisting in relation to subdivisions, preparing section 88B instruments to include easements and covenants.

5. Adverse possession applications.

6. Caveats, including applications to lapse caveats and Summons to extend caveats and lodge further caveats, including contested applications.

7. Sales and acquisition of specialised land, including contaminated land and ensuring that strategies are in place to document agreed risk-sharing arrangements.

We assist individuals and families to create legally sound and customised wills, powers of attorney, appointments of enduring guardian, trusts, and estate plans. We work closely with our clients and their advisors, including financial planners and accountants, to understand their specific goals and provide peace of mind.

Additionally, we handle complex estate administration matters.

We also assist business owners to develop and implement comprehensive strategies to transition their businesses to the next generation, ensuring transfer of leadership and ownership. Our team advises on issues such as shareholder and unitholder agreements, business valuations, governance structures, and the implementation of buy-sell agreements to protect the interests of family members and other stakeholders.

We have substantial experience and can provide specialised advice relating to the entire life cycle of a business, including matters such as business structuring, terms and conditions of trade, contracts and agreements, lease terms, supply and distribution agreements, export and import agreements, transfers of equipment licences, services and facilities agreements, franchising agreements, sale of business assets, partnership agreements, shareholders agreements and unitholders agreements.

We also assist clients with corporate governance and compliance, drafting and reviewing commercial leases, licences, acting on the sale and purchase of businesses and liquor licence applications and transfers.

We have significant expertise in the agricultural sector and understand the unique challenges faced by agribusinesses.

We can assist clients in areas such as farm acquisitions and disposals, purchase and sale of primary production businesses and assets, land titling (including leasehold conversions), leasing and sharefarming arrangements, partnership, trust and cooperative structures for property owners, liquor licensing for producers and specific farm contracts, such as wind and solar farm leases,

We are also highly experienced in the intricacies of water law, offering guidance on water rights and water access licences, including water access agreements, sales, assignments, allocations and trading.

We have substantial experience in liquor licensing, including applications for new licences, removal of existing licences, acquisitions and disposals of licensed businesses and land, leasing of licensed premises and management and service agreements.