RETAIL AND COMMERCIAL LEASES ACT 1995 - SECT 61
RETAIL AND COMMERCIAL LEASES ACT 1995 - SECT 61
(1) A retail shop
lease may only regulate trading hours if—
(a) the
shop is within an enclosed shopping complex; and
(b) the
lease does not reduce the trading hours for which the shop is permitted to be
open for trade to less than 50 hours per week; and
(c) the
core trading hours (ie the hours for which the shop is required to be open for
business)—
(i)
do not exceed 54 hours a week and do not include any time
on a Sunday; and
(ii)
have been approved in a secret ballot, conducted in
accordance with the regulations, by a majority of at least 75% of the votes
cast.
(2) In the ballot, the
lessor is entitled to one vote and the lessee of each retail shop affected by
the proposal to be decided by the ballot is entitled to one vote in respect of
that shop.
(2a) The lessor or the
lessee under a retail shop lease (or an officer of an association referred to
in section 60 acting at the request of a lessee) may call a meeting of
the persons who are entitled to vote in a ballot to vote on a resolution
approving different core trading hours for the purposes of
subsection (1)(c).
(3) A
retail shop lease for a shop that is required to be open for business during
core trading hours is void to the extent that it requires the lessee to pay,
or pay a contribution towards, the costs of operating the shopping complex
outside core trading hours when the lessee's shop is not open for trading.
(4) A lessee may apply
to the lessor for exemption from the provisions of the retail shop lease
regulating trading hours.
(5) On receiving a
written application for an exemption under subsection (4), the lessor
must not unreasonably withhold the exemption (but it may be granted on
reasonable conditions).
(6) A provision in a
retail shop lease, or in any determination as to core trading hours under this
section, is void to the extent that it requires the lessee to open the shop on
any Sunday.