It is the owner who is responsible for the absence of unfair terms in the agreement. The rules on unfair terms differ slightly depending on the start of your contract. Where the contract started before 1 October 2015, the contract will be considered in accordance with the unfair terms in consumer contracts regulations 1999. Clauses negotiated individually between two parties cannot be unfair under these rules, so any terms that you and the owner have added to the basic contract are not verified by trading standards. Therefore, this gives landlords an even greater responsibility to ensure that they take into account all aspects of their lease agreement, including: conditions that give the lessor the right to change to change what is rented would certainly be interpreted as unfair. Since the introduction of the ACL amendments, the competence of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has expanded to examine unfair terms in the contract to the detriment of small businesses. Is my lease considered a “small business contract”? Under the Consumer Rights Act, the definition of an unfair term remains the same as in the 1999 unfair terms in the Consumer Contracts Regulations. However, here are terms that often change the owners and therefore make it unfair. The fairness or nullity of a clause can only be assessed in the context of all the circumstances related to the agreement. [3] One form of word deemed acceptable in one agreement is not necessarily fair in another. Only a court can decide what is right or wrong in a given case. The provisions apply only to standard terms, not individually negotiated terms. [7] Nor do they apply to a provision of a lease whose content is prescribed by law.

[8] Schedule 2 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 contains an indicative list (the “Grey List”) of contract terms that, in certain circumstances, may be considered unfair. They are similar in many respects to the `indicative list` in the 1999 Regulations on unfair terms in consumer contracts, which apply to contracts before 1 October 2015. The regulation of unfair contract terms depends on the start date of the contract before or after 1 October 2015. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 applies to agreements entered into on or after that date. For contracts concluded before that date, the 1999 Regulations on unfair terms in consumer contracts (hereinafter the Regulations) continue to apply thanks to the savings rules provided for in secondary legislation. [1] The Consumer Law Act maintains the key elements of the definition of an unfair term in the regulations and consolidates many aspects of earlier law. Contact the trading standards if you think any of the terms of your lease agreement are unfair. Trading standards can check the contract and ask the owner or agent to remove some of the conditions….