If settlement is delayed by the purchaser, through no fault of the Vendor, then interest can be payable by the Purchaser in accordance with the terms of the contract of sale of land (Late Settlement Interest). Late Settlement Interest is normally calculated at 12% per annum of the purchase price.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, residential landlords have been riding the wave of rent reduction, rent freezing, mortgage freezing as well as a hiatus on eviction notices (with a few exceptions). On top of this, the Victorian Government has set up a system of new rental rules and requirements.

The Victorian State Budget for the 2020-21 year has a focus on “people” and economic stimulus in order to assist the economy recover from the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns.

The budget focused on promoting investment into housing and planning, rebuilding the state and its economy.

Over the last few weeks, landlords, tenants and their lawyers have been awaiting guidelines from the Government to assist in their lease negotiations. While further legislation is required from each of the States, the Prime Minister released the National Cabinet Mandatory Code of Conduct SME Commercial Leasing Principles During COVID-19 (Code) on 7 April 2020.

In a recent VCAT decision of AVC Operations Pty Ltd v Teley Pty Ltd (2018) VCAT 931 it was held that the landlord of a lease governed by the Retail Leases Act (Act) was not entitled to withhold consent to an assignment of a lease of a hotel business on the basis that the incoming tenant (assignee) did not have sufficient financial resources or business experience to meet the lease obligations.

The new financial year will bring in a number of changes to the property industry.  Developers need to plan for these changes to ensure compliance and avoid any delays or other adverse implications once the amendments take effect.

Amongst the tidal wave of criticism of the financial planning industry in the wake of the royal commission, education and ethical standards is one area a new amendment to the Corporations Act will seek to address from 1 January 2019.  

The Federal Government’s 2018 Budget contained much less change for the superannuation sector than previous years.

At the SMSF National Conference we heard James O’Halloran, Deputy Commissioner of Superannuation give a speech outlining the areas of focus for the balance of the financial year. The speech confirmed that a key component of the ATO is education to prevent breaches before they occur, especially in light of the recent superannuation reforms, but with some specific enforcement priorities.

The court in Aussiegolfa v FCT has recently examined the in-house asset rules (s62) and sole purpose test (s71) of the Superannuation Industry Supervision Act 1993 (Cth) (SISA).

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) has released a media release warning the financial advice sector about the consequences of binding death benefit nominations (BDBNs) not being signed and witnessed correctly. 

In a move welcomed by SMSF trustees (and their advisors!) the ATO has announced the extension of the lodgment date for self managed superannuation fund (SMSF) annual returns for the 2016/17 year to 30 June 2018. The ATO has confirmed that because 30 June 2018 falls on a Saturday, lodgment can occur on Monday 2 July 2018 without penalties.  
 

Under the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth) (the Act), securities and charges under other legislation and registers were migrated onto the Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR). Many migrated securities were not registered in accordance with the Act’s registration requirements.

As set out in our update “Small Business Offered Long Awaited Protection from Unfair Contract Terms”, unfair contract term provisions under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) have been extended to not only protect consumers from unfair terms, but also parties to a small business contract.

From 12 November 2016, small businesses will receive important protection from unfair terms in standard form consumer contracts.

The Government has released the second round of draft rules for the implementation of the superannuation reform package announced in the 2016-2017 budget, which includes draft legislation for the 5 year concessional contributions catch-up measure.

The Government has released the second round of  draft rules for the implementation of the superannuation reform package announced in the 2016-2017 budget. This tranche includes the draft legislation for the proposed $1.6 million super pension cap, which essentially limits the amount that a member can hold in a pension account to $1.6 million from 1 July 2017.

The Government has released its second tranche of draft legislation to implement the proposed superannuation budget measures. 

The announcement of the $500,000 lifetime non-concessional contributions cap in the 2016-2017 budget was not only controversial, especially given what was widely perceived as its retrospective operation, but raised many questions as to how it would be applied. The Government has announced that the proposed lifetime cap will not proceed but will be replaced by a new measure.

Short stay online accommodation services such as Airbnb and Stayz, do not enjoy universal acceptance. The alleged behaviour of some guests have seen attempts to control their activities, with mixed results.