Major Leasing

Freehills has significant expertise and experience in major leasing which we believe provides great value. We bring longstanding Australian leasing expertise and skills (including facilities management).

Our multidisciplinary and national team of advisers means we can service national clients with leasing matters in different states, accounting for the various governmental/legislative requirements of each state. We can offer our clients a one-stop legal service for all facets of major leasing.

Freehills has considerable experience in structuring effective facilities management agreements (FMA) and leasing arrangements aimed at underpinning the commercial success of a wide range of projects.

Our comprehensive leasing service includes:

• assisting our clients to identify and meet all legislative requirements
• ensuring the commercial aspects of the lease meet the relevant legislative requirements
• ensuring the commercial aspects of the lease reflect what was agreed on in the letter of offer
• advising our clients on issues affecting leases such as stamp duty, registration and goods and services tax (GST) 
• assisting in the negotiation process on behalf of our client to ensure the best outcome for our clients
• assisting in the finalisation of lease documents, including stamping and registration.

Our Property team can assist your business with major leasing issues in the following ways:

• we have the resources and capacity to efficiently and effectively negotiate major leases.
• our major leasing lawyers have access to the expertise and resources from the full spectrum of issues that may be involved in negotiating a major lease (such as GST).
  

Some of our recent experience includes:

• Adviser to Investa Property Group as landlord of three office buildings in Sydney and Melbourne concerning new leases for Telstra. This deal was reported as Australia’s largest ever leasing deal. 
• Adviser to Lend Lease on the negotiation of a complex lease to Commonwealth Bank of Australia of the commercial office space in the Darling Walk development, comprising more than 55,000 square metres. 
• Adviser to Lend Lease/Darling Park Trust in relation to the Darling Park development, including the leasing of 32,000 square meters to PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
• Adviser to General Property Trust, Multiplex and AMP concerning the lease of the commercial section of Tower One at Darling Park to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. This was the biggest leasing deal undertaken in Sydney in 2007.  
• Adviser to SAS Trustee Corporation and Investa in relation to all leasing aspects of the QV.1 Building, the premier office tower in Perth.
• Adviser to Equiset concerning the lease of a recently constructed corporate premises to National Foods at Docklands. 
• Adviser to KPMG in relation to the lease of its New South Wales headquarters at King Street Wharf.
• Adviser to Inpex in relation to the lease of its new Australian head office at Century City, an office tower in the Perth CBD.
• Adviser to Fairfax with respect to leasing arrangements for its new Melbourne office.
• Adviser to Mirvac in relation to negotiations for a lease for its new head office in Subiaco, Western Australia.
• Adviser to Ericsson on its leasing arrangement at Docklands. 
• Adviser to National Australia Bank on its leasing arrangements at Docklands.
• Adviser to Lend Lease in relation to retail management agreements in Singapore and Malaysia.

Freehills understands that as institutional investors play increasingly prominent roles as owners of much of Australia’s stock of infrastructure and property assets, effective facilities management and leasing arrangements become critical to the overall financial success of listed and unlisted infrastructure, and property investments.

Having advised both asset owners and large commercial and industrial tenants, we understand the risk profile of both parties to complex FMA and leasing agreements.
These include:

• infrastructure (operations and maintenance agreements) and facilities management agreements
• property leasing arrangements
• hotel and golf course management agreements, and
• planning and environment approvals and appeals  liquor licences.