The short answer
Make good in Parramatta depends on what you lease. Tower offices near Parramatta Square follow building rules and often reinstate to base building. Shops and restaurants may need exhaust, cool room and grease arrestor work, and retail leases bring NSW mediation rights. Nearby warehouses in Camellia, Rydalmere and Silverwater often need racking removal and floor repairs. Your lease sets the standard in every case.
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Key takeaways
- 01Parramatta has three very different kinds of make good: tower offices, street and centre retail, and industrial units nearby. Scope, trades and timing differ for each.
- 02New tower offices usually come with building rules, booked goods lifts and after-hours noisy work.
- 03Food and retail strip-outs often involve exhaust hoods, cool rooms and grease arrestors. Ask the landlord in writing what stays.
- 04Warehouse make goods usually centre on the floor: racking anchor holes, line marking, coatings and slab damage.
- 05Retail tenants can use NSW Small Business Commission mediation, which is free to apply for and required before most NCAT claims.
Parramatta is often described as Sydney's second CBD, and its commercial property is unusually varied. Within a few kilometres you can find new office towers around Parramatta Square, older offices and shops along Church Street and George Street, restaurants on the Church Street dining strip, a large shopping centre, and industrial units in Camellia, Rydalmere and Silverwater. Each of these needs a different kind of make good.
General information only, not legal advice. Get advice from a property lawyer about your own lease.
Which kind of Parramatta make good do I have?
| Premises | Typical make-good scope | Things to sort out early |
|---|---|---|
| Tower office (Parramatta Square and surrounds) | Remove partitions, joinery, cabling and supplementary air-conditioning; reinstate ceilings, lights and carpet to base building | Building rules, inductions, goods-lift bookings, after-hours noisy work, fire services handled by the building's contractor |
| Older office building | Remove fit-out, patch, paint, carpet; repairs to dated ceilings and finishes | Asbestos register, condition report, what counts as fair wear and tear |
| Shop or restaurant (street front or shopping centre) | Remove shopfront signage, counters, joinery, kitchen equipment, exhaust hood and ducts, cool rooms | Centre-management rules, what the landlord wants left, grease arrestor and floor wastes |
| Warehouse or factory (Camellia, Rydalmere, Silverwater and beyond) | Dismantle racking, fill anchor holes, remove line marking and coatings, repair slab, clean hardstand | Who installed what, slab condition at the start, waste volumes |
For more detail, see office make good in Sydney, retail make good and warehouse make good in Sydney.
What should a Parramatta tower office tenant expect?
Newer towers have detailed building rules. Expect your contractor to be inducted, to lodge insurance certificates and safe work method statements, and to book goods lifts and loading docks. Demolition, drilling and grinding are often restricted to after hours. Base-building systems such as sprinklers, smoke detection and air-conditioning are often altered only by the building's nominated trades, even where you paid to add to them.
Ask the building manager for the contractor requirements before you request quotes, and make sure every quote includes them. The Sydney CBD page covers tower make goods in more detail.
What about shops and restaurants?
Food and retail strip-outs have their own traps:
- Exhaust and ducts. Kitchen exhaust hoods and ductwork often run through the building. Removal and sealing must be done properly.
- Grease arrestors and floor wastes. Ask the landlord whether the grease arrestor stays, and whether any trade waste arrangement needs to be ended.
- Cool rooms and gas. In NSW, disconnecting gas appliances is gasfitting work and needs a licensed gasfitter. Have cool rooms and refrigeration removed by a qualified refrigeration technician. Electrical work must be done by a licensed electrician.
- Shopfront and signage. Removing signs and shopfront changes can leave damage to repair.
- Shopping-centre rules. Centre management usually sets work hours, hoarding standards and loading access.
If your lease is a retail lease, NSW law gives you extra protections. The NSW Retail Tenancy Guide says the landlord should release a bank guarantee within two months of you leaving unless you owe money, and a cash bond must be lodged with NSW Fair Trading. Most retail lease claims must be mediated by the NSW Small Business Commission before NCAT will hear them. See retail make good.
What does a warehouse make good involve near Parramatta?
In industrial areas such as Camellia, Rydalmere and Silverwater, and further west in Wetherill Park and Smithfield, most of the make-good cost is usually in the floor and the fit-out you added:
- Racking. Dismantle and remove pallet racking, then core or grind out the anchor bolts and fill the holes.
- Line marking and coatings. Remove floor markings, epoxy or other coatings if the lease requires a bare slab.
- Slab damage. Repair cracks, chips and forklift damage beyond fair wear and tear.
- Office pods and mezzanines. Remove any you installed, and make good the connections.
- Services. Make safe and remove extra power, three-phase outlets and high-bay lighting you added (licensed electrician).
- Hardstand and yard. Clean, and remove anything stored or fixed outside.
Your start-of-lease condition report is critical here. Slabs often had cracks and stains before you moved in, and photos are the best way to show it.
What safety and approval checks apply?
SafeWork NSW says an asbestos register is required for workplaces built before 31 December 2003, or where asbestos has been found. Ask for it before anything is removed. Removing friable asbestos, or more than 10 m² of non-friable asbestos, needs a licensed removalist.
Whether a strip-out needs planning approval depends on the work and the building: NSW has exempt development, fast-track complying development and development applications. Ask your contractor, a building certifier or City of Parramatta Council before structural changes, fire-safety work, or work on a heritage-listed building. Parramatta has many heritage items, so check.
How MAKE GREAT helps Parramatta tenants
- Analyse my lease: our lease check summarises the make-good, alterations and security clauses in your lease in plain English. It is preliminary and not legal advice; a person on our team reviews it, and a contractor checks the premises on site.
- Get my make-good quotes: we turn your lease, plans and photos into a written scope that suits your premises type, and invite contractors who have passed our checks (ABN, insurance and licences) to quote on it.
- You choose and contract directly with the contractor. MAKE GREAT is a marketplace, not a contractor. It is free for tenants: if you hire a contractor through us, they pay us a referral fee. Nobody can pay to rank higher.
See also: make good in Sydney and North Sydney.
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Other Sydney areas
Frequently asked questions
What does make good involve for a restaurant on Church Street?
It depends on the lease, but food strip-outs often include removing the exhaust hood and ductwork, cool rooms, cooking equipment, counters and seating, and dealing with the grease arrestor and floor wastes. Some landlords want kitchen infrastructure left for the next operator. Get the landlord's requirements in writing before you remove anything.
My warehouse in Rydalmere has pallet racking. Do I have to remove it?
If you installed it, most leases require you to remove it and repair the slab where it was anchored. Check your make-good clause and any agreement made when the racking went in. Racking must be dismantled safely, and anchor holes are usually cored or ground and filled.
Is a shop in a Parramatta shopping centre covered by NSW retail lease law?
Many shopping-centre shops are covered by the NSW Retail Leases Act 1994, which brings disclosure rules, a bond scheme and mediation through the NSW Small Business Commission. Check with the Commission or a property lawyer whether your lease is covered.
Do I need council approval for a make good in Parramatta?
It depends on the work and the building. NSW has three pathways: exempt development for many minor, low-impact works, fast-track complying development, and a development application. Structural changes, fire-safety work and work on heritage-listed buildings need particular care. Ask your contractor, a building certifier or City of Parramatta Council before work starts.
Can I pay my landlord instead of doing the make good?
Often, if the landlord agrees. The NSW Small Business Commission notes tenants often agree to pay an amount in lieu of doing the work. Get an independent itemised quote first so you can judge whether the amount asked is reasonable.
Sources
Primary sources we checked when writing this page. Laws and guidance change, so check the current version.
- 1.NSW Small Business Commission, NSW Retail Tenancy Guide (January 2024) (opens in a new tab)
- 2.NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, Retail leases (opens in a new tab)
- 3.SafeWork NSW, Asbestos (opens in a new tab)
- 4.NSW Government, Electrical licences (opens in a new tab)
- 5.NSW Government, Gasfitter compliance and regulatory obligations (opens in a new tab)
- 6.NSW Planning Portal, Planning approval pathways (opens in a new tab)
- 7.City of Parramatta Council (opens in a new tab)