An exchange of correspondence using the words 'prepared to offer' a lease 'on commercial terms at the prevailing market rate' does not create a binding agreement for lease where essential terms including rent, rent reviews and turnover rent are not agreed. Where a statutory authority requires Ministerial consent for leases exceeding five years, an agreement for lease will contain implied terms that the parties will do all reasonable to obtain consent and that the formal lease will be subject to consent and any conditions imposed. The question of whether s 19(3) of the SHFA Act applies to agreements for lease (as distinct from legal leases) was left unresolved, with Gleeson JA and Leeming JA reaching opposite conclusions and Macfarlan JA declining to decide.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 24 later cases that cite this judgment.
1 of the 24 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.