Northern Territory Consolidated Acts Northern Territory Consolidated Acts(1) A retail shop lease that provides for rent to be changed to current market rent, or that provides an option to renew or extend the lease at current market rent, is taken to include provisions to the following effect:
(a) the current market rent is the rent that would reasonably be expected to be paid for the shop, determined on an effective rent basis, having regard to the following matters:
(i) the provisions of the lease;
(ii) the rent that would reasonably be expected to be paid for the shop, in a free and open market between a willing landlord and a willing tenant in an arm's length transaction, if it were unoccupied and offered for renting for the same or a substantially similar use to which the shop may be put under the lease;
(iii) the gross rent, less the landlord's outgoings payable by the tenant;
(iv) rent concessions and other benefits that are frequently or generally offered to prospective tenants of unoccupied retail shops;
(b) for paragraph (a), the current market rent is not to take into account the value of goodwill created by the tenant's occupation or the value of the tenant's fixtures and fittings on the retail shop premises;
(c) if the landlord and the tenant do not agree as to what the actual amount of that rent is to be, the amount of the rent is to be determined by a valuation carried out by:
(i) a specialist retail valuer appointed by agreement between the parties to the lease; or
(ii) if the parties cannot agree as to who is to be appointed under subparagraph (i) – a specialist retail valuer appointed by the Commissioner;
(d) in determining the amount of current market rent, a specialist retail valuer must take into account the matters set out in paragraph (a);
(e) the landlord must, not later than 14 days after a request by a specialist retail valuer appointed under paragraph (c), supply the valuer with all relevant information about leases for retail shops situated in the same building or retail shopping centre to assist the valuer to determine the current market rent;
(f) a valuation for paragraph (c) is to be in writing, to contain detailed reasons for the specialist retail valuer's determination and to specify the matters to which the valuer had regard in making his or her determination;
(g) the parties to the lease are to pay in equal shares the costs of a valuation by a specialist retail valuer.
(2) A specialist retail valuer appointed under subsection (1)(c) must make the valuation of current market rent not later than one month after accepting the appointment.
(3) A specialist retail valuer may apply under Part 11 for an order that a landlord comply with a request mentioned in subsection (1)(e) to supply relevant information about leases for retail shops situated in the same building or retail shopping centre to assist the valuer to determine the rent.