The Retail Estate Institute of NSW has made a submission to the state’s Small Business Commissioner calling for a government-prescribed standard retail lease which would enable new businesses to get up and running faster, and could help retailers save thousands of dollars a year.

According to the REINSW, a standardised lease agreement could help retailers and landlords by avoiding the long and costly legal process which makes up the current lease negotiation process.

“The overwhelming majority of retail tenants and landlords find themselves at the mercy of unnecessary legal negotiations even though they’ve reached an agreement,” said REINSW chief executive Tim McKibbin.

“This means businesses otherwise ready to trade, and landlords requiring income in the form of rent, are made to wait and wait. The end of JobKeeper heightens the urgency of addressing these pointless delays.

“Government must look for every opportunity to reduce costs for these businesses as they tackle the non-stimulus future. [and] there is an opportunity for government to prescribe a standardised, broadly applicable, simple to decipher retail lease that helps.”

The act could also help in dispute resolution scenarios, as there would be less need to decipher the terms and stipulations of a complex lease, and make leases easier to understand and enable an easier method of educating non-native English speakers on their rights and obligations – as standardised explanatory documents could be created in a number of languages.