Areas of Expertise

Property, Retail, Commercial, Industrial Leasing - tenants and landlords

Cain has specialised in property law for over 20 years.

Cain’s main focus is on all aspects of retail, commercial and industrial leasing for clients such as KFC, SMEC Australia, Collins Foods, Craveable Brands, Sony, Universal Music, Isaac Property Developments, NOVA Entertainment, Toshiba and Canon.

He predominantly represents tenants but also landlords and developers negotiating the terms of property documents ranging from Agreements for Lease, Leases, Deeds of Assignment, Variations of Lease, Surrenders of Lease, Fitout Deeds, Incentive Deeds and amongst others, Licences.

Cain ensures documents are negotiated as favourably as possible for clients and that their interests are protected. Matters are finalised quickly and efficiently, meaning clients can focus on what is important to them - their business.

What others say

"Cain has been our lawyer now for close to 25 years. He has a deep interest in, and understanding of our business which enables him to make appropriate document recommendations quickly with minimal input from our end. He is dependable, a good cultural fit for our team, he has concise communication skills and relays complex legal matters in a common sense way that is easy to understand. Cain regularly reviews our standard documents to tweak them so we are protected against risk. Cain has won KFC’s supplier of the year award twice, which is a testament to his strong relationship with KFC. "
Alyce More, Property and Market Planning Manager, KFC South Pacific.
"The relationship with Cain has been built on honesty and professionalism from day one. Cain is always very proactive in seeking the best outcome for Toshiba as a client and has a deep understanding of our business. Cain is a great lawyer and also a genuinely good guy. Based on Toshiba's experience, we have no hesitations in recommending Cain Sarah to all seeking a professional partner in the legal sector. "
Ahmad Malas, Leased Property & Projects Manager, Toshiba (Australia).
"Cain’s expertise is best in class. His dogged attention to detail and dispassionate approach have helped us to mitigate the myriad of legal and material risks associated with office leases. Most recently, under a sharp deadline, Cain swiftly negotiated our lease renewal to enable rapid settlement and closure of the deal, liaising with our counterparts to ensure full execution and registration of the lease. In the absence of any reciprocal efficiency on the part of our lessor’s lawyers, Cain was heroic, attending to the glacial speed of our lessor’s lawyers with good mannered persistence, compelling them to attend to the paperwork sooner than they would have if they’d been left to attend to the end of time. His professionalism and integrity are assured."
Anne Savage, Chief Executive Officer, Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia

Experience

Lease assignments

Acting for major retail tenant in the disposal of over 100 head leases across Australia to franchisees either by way of an assignment of the Lease or a licence.

Preparing precedent documents

Drafting and finalising precedent Heads of Agreement, Agreement for Lease, Lease, Incentive Deed and associated documents for large QSR tenants.

Advising on retail legislation

Advising a large retail tenant (and subsidiary of a publicly listed company) as to the application of Retail Legislation in each state and territory in Australia.

Relocation dispute

Successfully acting for a retail tenant in the prevention of a proposed relocation and negotiating favourable terms with the landlord on an agreed basis.

Canon head office

Advising, negotiating and finalising Canon's head office Lease and associated documents.

Toshiba head office

Advising, negotiating and finalising Toshiba's head office Lease and associated documents.