The landlord has made promises to provide signage for my coffee shop, how can I hold him to it?
"I lease a coffee shop in a small suburban centre. When I moved in, the landlord promised to put up an advertising sign for me at the road frontage, but twelve months and many requests later, nothing has happened. What can I do?"
I hope at least some of your complaints were in writing, or that at least you have details of when you complained. Put your complaint in writing, with details of the complaints history. Tell your landlord that unless the sign is up within a specified time, you will go to the Administrative Decisions Tribunal and lodge your complaint if they still do nothing. You can seek an order that a sign be put up and compensation be made.
If there are unresolved disputes between the landlord and the tenant, the Administrative Decisions Tribunal has the exclusive power to determine the outcome, and the Tribunal’s practice is to require mediation to be attempted before it will consider the matter. The Tribunal operates more informally than a court and many complaints are resolved by agreement. Never forget though that the Act is a law and must be complied with.
