A lessor's request for information about a proposed assignee's financial standing under s 41(a) of the Retail Leases Act 1994 (NSW) must identify the required information with a reasonable degree of specificity; a blanket request for 'verifiable information regarding financial standing' is insufficient. Each request for consent to assignment must be dealt with on its own merits; a lessor cannot rely on an information requirement imposed in response to an earlier request to defeat deemed consent arising from a later request. Where a proposed assignment is from joint tenant lessees to one of them, the s 41(b) requirement to furnish a disclosure statement to the proposed assignee is inoperative because performance is impossible. The question whether the scope of information a lessor may 'reasonably require' under s 41(a) is limited to information relevant to whether the proposed assignee's financial resources are inferior to those of the lessee was left open.
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