Police Snapshot Legal Matters

Penrith: Man’s Sunday arvo shop results in shoplifting charge

A man has been charged after he was caught shoplifting in Penrith.

It is alleged a 58-year-old Penrith man went to a supermarket within a shopping centre about 3.00pm on Sunday.

He allegedly took items off the shelf and placed them into a shopping bag and continued to walk around the store for a short time, before exiting without paying for any of the items in his bag.

He was stopped by security and police were contacted.

He was charged with shoplifting and will appear in Penrith Local Court on August 11.

Penrith: Kingswood man admits to carrying cannabis

A man has been charged after he was busted with cannabis in Penrith.

Police were conducting a drug dog operation in Penrith about 4.45pm on Saturday, July 1.

During that operation, police stopped and spoke with a 30-year-old Kingswood man.

He was allegedly asked if he was carrying any prohibited drugs and he advised that he had cannabis in his bag.

Police searched the man and bag, locating a small resealable bag containing cannabis.

He was charged and will appear at Penrith Local Court on July 27.

South Penrith: Woman busted drink driving didn’t have valid licence

A woman has been charged after she was caught mid-range drink driving in St Marys last weekend.

Police were patrolling Tukara Road, South Penrith, just after 12.30am on Saturday when they stopped a vehicle for a random breath test.

Police have had a conversation with the driver, a 49-year-old Jamisontown local, and subjected her to a breath test, which proved positive.

She was arrested and taken to Penrith Police Station where she underwent a breath analysis that returned a positive reading of 0.126.

Further checks on the woman’s licence revealed that it had expired in 2020 and was not currently valid.

She was formally charged with ‘drive with middle range PCA’ and will appear in Penrith Local Court on August 10.

Penrith: Man facing numerous charges after allegedly shoplifting

A man has been charged after he allegedly stole from a number of shops in Penrith late last week.

It is alleged that a 54-year-old Kingswood man has attended a shopping centre in Penrith about 6.00pm on Friday, June 30.

He has attended a supermarket, put numerous items in his bag and left the store without paying for them.

About 15 minutes later, he went to another supermarket in the same centre and again took numerous items.

Security attached to the centre was notified and approached the man, who allegedly threatened them, before police arrived and arrested the man.

The man was searched and prescription drugs were located that were not prescribed to him.

He was charged with ‘shoplifting’, ‘attempt stalk/intimidate intend fear of harm (personal)’ and ‘possess/attempt to, prescribed restricted substance’.

The man was due to appear in Penrith Local Court on Tuesday, July 4.

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We do a lot of leasing at Complete Legal & Conveyancing.

We act for both landlords and tenants, which involves drafting Commercial and Retail Leases as well as negotiating terms.

One of the most common sources of dispute between landlords and tenants with respect to Leases are the provisions in the Lease with respect to options to renew.

An option to renew is an option in favour of the tenant to extend their Lease beyond the initial term for a further period. For example, you might have heard a Lease term described as “2 by 2” or “2 x 2” which means an initial term of two years which can be extended by the tenant for a further two years pursuant to the terms of the Lease.

It is also possible for a Lease to have more than one option and the option periods do not necessarily need to match the initial term.

There are two main areas of conflict that arise when it comes to options to renew.

The first is exercising the option itself. Leases are quite technical documents that usually set out a very specific way in which a tenant needs to exercise their option.

This includes preparing a Notice that contains certain technical information and serving that Notice on the landlord within a particular timeframe.

Sometimes a Lease will nominate a date range, for example “the tenant must serve notice of their exercise of option to renew between March 1 2023 and June 1 2023”. Sometimes the relevant date range will be calculated with reference to the termination of the initial term, for example “the tenant must serve notice of their exercise of option on the landlord no more than six months but no less than three months before the end of the initial term.”

This date range is extremely important because if a tenant does not exercise its option within the relevant date range then the landlord is not obliged to grant the option, meaning that they can require the tenant to vacate or renegotiate the terms of the Lease. Generally speaking, one of the attractive things about an option is that the option Lease will be identical to the original Lease except for things like increases in rent.

If you do not exercise your option in time and you wish to stay at the premises, the landlord can impose further, more onerous terms on you by way of a new Lease as opposed to an option Lease.

The other issue that tenants often forget when exercising an option is that it is usually a requirement that to exercise your option you must be in compliance with the Lease and not have committed/been committing any breaches thereof. For example, if you exercise your option at a time when you are behind in your rent you may find that the option is not effective and that the landlord does not need to extend your tenancy.

Some Leases require that you be compliant only at the point of exercising your option. Other more onerous Leases require that you have been compliant with the Lease throughout the entirely of the initial term in order to be granted your option.

In summary, options are very technical legal transactions. You should make sure you carefully discuss the option provisions of any Lease you are seeking to enter into, whether or not you are the landlord or the tenant.

Man Arrested After Allegedly Robbing Same Convenience Store Twice

A man has faced court charged with armed robbery upon the same convenience store twice in three days.

About 7.40pm on Thursday, June 29, a man allegedly entered a convenience store on Manning Street, Kingswood, where he threatened a 21-year-old male employee with a butcher’s knife. The man fled the location with a sum of cash.

Police were contacted and officers from Nepean Police Area Command established a crime scene and commenced an investigation.

But there was an immediate twist in the story.

Officers were informed that the man had also allegedly entered the store shortly before 4pm on Tuesday, June 27 and had done the same thing, but the incident had not been reported to police.

Whilst patrolling the area, police have arrested a 21-year-old man walking along Bringelly Road.

It will be alleged that officers located the butcher’s knife and proceeds from the store in the man’s possession.

He was taken to Penrith Police Station and