The Australian Retailers Association (ARA) has given retailers in New South Wales another reason to smile this Christmas, after securing new legislation around retail tenancy.
In partnership with the Pharmacy Guild of Australia (PGA) and other industry bodies, the ARA developed the Retail Industry Code of Practice – The Reporting of Sales and Occupancy Costs (the Code), to improve transparency for retailers around their leases.
In the wake of the 2016 review of the Retail Leases Act 1994 (NSW), the Code mandates that shopping centre landlords have an obligation to provide benchmark information – including sales reporting and occupancy costs – to the retailers who provide sales data.
Executive director of the ARA, Russel Zimmerman, said that the Code will highlight the real value of a lease to a retailer.
“This landmark achievement for retailers in NSW will provide vital information to tenants in shopping centres, allowing them to better-understand the real value of their leases.
“The implementation of this Code will help to give some power back to retail tenants and give them some added certainty when it comes to negotiating with their landlords.”
The Shopping Centre Council of Australia (SCGA) has agreed to the code which will be rolled out from January 2019. Shopping centres will have six months to sign-up and implement the code.
Zimmerman said that going forward, the ARA will work to introduce the Code to all states.
“We will be working to implement this Code nationally over the medium-term, and with rising costs, increasing competition and patchy sales growth creating some headwinds for retailers, big wins like this can make a substantial difference.”
To read a copy of the code, click here.