Amendment to Retail Leases Act 2003 – definition of “accountant”

The definition of “accountant” in s 3 of the RLA will soon be changed.

It currently reads as follows:

accountant means a member of—

(a)        the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia; or

(b)        CPA Australia (ACN 008 392 452); or

(c)        the National Institute of Accountants;

The new definition will change subsection (c) to read as follows:

(c)        the Institute of Public Accountants;

The amendment comes into effect when the Consumer Acts Amendment Bill 2001 (Vic) receives Royal assent.  It does not appear to have received assent at this stage.

The term “accountant” appears only in section 33(2)(b)(ii), which says that the tenant must give the landlord an auditors report when the retail premises lease specifies that turnover rent is payable.

Thanks to Michael Redfern for alerting me to this amendment.