Queensland Consolidated Acts

COVID-19 EMERGENCY RESPONSE ACT 2020 - SECT 23

23 Regulation-making power for retail leases and other prescribed leases

(1) A regulation under this Act or the Retail Shop Leases Act 1994 may, for responding to the COVID-19 emergency—

(a) prohibit the recovery of possession of premises under a relevant lease by a lessor of the premises from a lessee of the premises; or

(b) prohibit the termination of a relevant lease by a lessor or owner of premises; or

(c) regulate or prevent the exercise or enforcement of another right of a lessor of premises under a relevant lease or other agreement relating to the premises; or

(d) exempt a lessee, or a class of lessees, from the operation of a provision of an Act, relevant lease or other agreement relating to the leasing of premises; or

(e) require parties to a relevant lease to have regard to particular matters or principles, or a prescribed standard, code or other document, in negotiating or disputing a matter under or in relation to the relevant lease; or

(f) require a mediator, conciliator, arbitrator, tribunal, court or other decision-maker to have regard to particular matters or principles, or a prescribed standard, code or other document, in mediating, conciliating, hearing or deciding a matter or proceeding relating to a relevant lease; or

(g) provide for a dispute resolution process for disputes relating to relevant leases, including, for example, by providing for the following—

(i) who may apply for dispute resolution;

(ii) how the dispute resolution process is started;

(iii) the appointment and jurisdiction of mediators to mediate disputes;

(iv) the conduct of mediations;

(v) the conferral of jurisdiction on a tribunal to hear and decide disputes;

(vi) the referral of disputes to a court or tribunal; or

(h) prescribe any other matter necessary for, or incidental to, facilitating a matter mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (g) .

(2) A regulation under this section may—

(a) be inconsistent with an Act or law, other than the Human Rights Act 2019 , to the extent necessary to achieve a purpose of the regulation and this Act; and

(b) have retrospective operation to a day not earlier than the commencement of this Act; and

(c) provide for a maximum penalty of not more than 20 penalty units for a contravention of the regulation.

(3) Without limiting subsection (2) (a) , to the extent a person’s act or omission complies with a regulation made under this section that is inconsistent with an Act or law, the person does not incur civil or criminal liability under the Act or law for the act or omission.

(4) A regulation under this section must declare it is made under this section.

(5) This section does not limit a regulation-making power under the Retail Shop Leases Act 1994 .

(6) A regulation under this section—

(a) must be made before the COVID-19 legislation expiry day; and

(b) expires 2 years after the COVID-19 legislation expiry day, unless it is sooner repealed.

(7) The Statutory Instruments Act 1992 , section 49 (1) applies to the tabling of a regulation made under this section as if the reference to 14 sitting days were a reference to 14 days.

(8) In this section—

"lease" includes a lease, sub-lease, licence or other agreement under which a person grants a right to another person to occupy premises, other than as a residence.

"premises" includes land.

"relevant lease" means—

(a) a retail shop lease under the Retail Shop Leases Act 1994 ; or

(b) a lease prescribed by regulation for this definition.