BACKGROUND The recent New South Wales Supreme Court case Lee v ATL (Australia) Pty Ltd [2023] NSWCA 327 found that a guarantor was not liable to a lender under a loan deed where that deed had been amended by a side letter between the borrower and the lender which did not include the guarantor. The Court found that the guarantor was not liable to the lender at all. TAKEAWAY If a franchisor is agreeing to vary the terms of a franchise agreement or related document, it should ensure that the...

The ACCC issued a report in December 2023 called “Unfair Contract Terms in Franchise Agreements – Key Findings of Targeted Compliance Checks on Franchisors”. You can find the report here. An important disclosure in the report was that the ACCC stated that: “We consider that the franchising sector is on notice regarding the ACCC’s views about UCTs in franchise agreements.” The ACCC gave the following tips when reviewing their contracts: 1.  &nb...

As from November 2023, the Unfair Contract Terms legislation introduced significant penalties for including unfair terms in any contract including leases. The penalties could be $50 million. The new legislation will apply to: 1.      Any new lease 2.      An assignment, variation or renewal of a lease (regardless of when the lease was originally entered into) 3.      The exercise of an option under the lease even ...