Since 2017, the NSW Government has progressively mandated the use of electronic conveyancing (eConveyancing), which is an efficient and secure way of conducting settlement and lodgement transactions within the digital environment. On 11 October 2021, New South Wales will complete its transition to 100% eConveyancing following new mandates by the NSW Government.
In completing this transition, we will see a number of changes to the NSW Land Titles system. We have summarised the changes and the implications for Charity and Not-For-Profit organisations.
The Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No 2) Bill 2021 (Bill) which amends the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997) was passed by both Houses of the Parliament on 2 September 2021 and awaits assent. Schedule 1 of the Bill makes charity registration a precondition for DGR endorsement.
The ACT Government has introduced the Leases (Commercial and Retail) COVID-19 Emergency Response Declaration 2021 (“The Declaration”) which came into effect on 2 September 2021. We have highlighted the key points in our latest article.
The Victorian Government has now published the Commercial Tenancy Relief Scheme Regulations 2021 (“the Regulations”), providing detailed certainty to commercial landlords and tenants as to the rent relief framework announced earlier this month. Although this year’s Regulations share the same principle concepts as the Victorian regulations in 2020 and the Code, much further detail has been inserted to ensure cooperative and transparent conduct between landlords and tenants.
Electronic execution and split execution of documents is again permitted after The Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No.1) Bill 2021 (the Bill) passed both houses on 10 August 2021.
The Bill provides that electronic execution and split execution of documents under section 127 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Corporations Act) is again permitted. Royal assent was provided on 13 August 2021 and therefore the amendments contained in the Bill came into effect on 14 August 2021.
Charities are required to file their Annual Information Statements (AIS) with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) each year. We have summarised the recent changes to Charities’ reporting obligations that you should be aware of.
Given the ongoing impacts of COVID-19, the relevant commercial tenancies state and territory based legislation implemented as a result of the National Code has in most cases been (or is anticipated to be) extended. We have summarised in this article the updated status of the relevant legislation in each state and territory as of 23 October 2020.
Further to our update circulated on 28 May 2020, the QLD Government that same day after we had finalised the update published its Retail Shop Leases and Other Commercial Leases (COVID-19 Emergency Response) Regulation 2020 (Regulation). We have summarised some of the key points of the Regulation in this update.
In response to the Coronavirus pandemic, the Prime Minister announced on 7 April 2020 the introduction of a Mandatory Code of Conduct (“National Code”) for commercial tenancies. For more information regarding the National Code, please refer to our earlier article, here. The National Code has been given effect in most states and territories through legislation and regulation.
We have summarised in this article the current status in each state and territory as at 28 May 2020.
In the hope of protecting the national economic interest, the Government following the Treasurer’s announcement on Sunday, 29 March 2020 introduced new Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) temporary measures to foreign investment transactions that are subject to the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 (Cth) (the Act).
Both commercial and residential landlords alike would agree that land tax is one of the biggest imposts of owning property in Australia. For some landlords, land tax liabilities are difficult enough to meet at the best of times, let alone during the uncertainty of COVID-19.
Given that this is an evolving topic, we seek to break down the NSW Government’s response in terms of support and flexibility during COVID-19 as of today’s publishing date (20 April 2020).
