Vitality Law Australia

Vitality Law Australia Lawyers for businesses that care. Pharmacy & Healthcare. Conveyancing. Leasing.

09/09/2026

Choosing a lawyer for your pharmacy is not the same as choosing a lawyer for an ordinary business.

A pharmacy sale can involve:
→ Business sale and lease assignment
→ Pharmacy ownership requirements
→ PBS and State or Territory approvals
→ ACPA and pharmacy location rules
→ Employees and other regulatory requirements

A generalist can learn all of this. The problem is they are learning it on your matter.

The cost of a missed detail is not just the invoice. It can be a stalled settlement, weeks of stress and a deal that does not go to plan.

Before you hire, ask how many pharmacy matters they have handled, how recently, and whether they know the PBS and ACPA processes.

If the answers are vague, keep looking.

Your pharmacy deserves a lawyer who knows the industry.

Submit an enquiry: https://vitalitylawaustralia.com/contact/

Our founder Sarah Stoddart was previously named Australian Sole Practitioner of the Year at the Lawyers Weekly Women in ...
07/09/2026

Our founder Sarah Stoddart was previously named Australian Sole Practitioner of the Year at the Lawyers Weekly Women in Law Awards.

It is a lovely thing to be recognised for. What it really reflects is the decision the firm was built on: to work exclusively with pharmacy and healthcare businesses, rather than treat them as one more industry on a long list.

That focus is why our clients are not spending their first meeting explaining what a change of ownership is, or why a pharmacy lease is not like a retail lease.

Thank you to the clients who have trusted us with the biggest decisions in their businesses. That is the part that matters.

If your pharmacy or health business needs advisors who already understand your world, we would like to hear from you: https://vitalitylawaustralia.com/contact/

When you sell your pharmacy, the buyer has advisors whose whole job is to improve the buyer's position.You need the same...
05/09/2026

When you sell your pharmacy, the buyer has advisors whose whole job is to improve the buyer's position.

You need the same on your side, and you need them early.

Here is where we sit in a sale:

→ Before market. Getting your lease, employment records, approvals and documents into a state that stands up to scrutiny, so nothing derails you later.

→ Heads of agreement. The commercial terms get set here, long before the contract. Once a position is conceded at this stage it is very hard to win back.

→ The contract. What you are selling, what is excluded, what happens between signing and settlement, and what protects you if something changes.

→ Approvals. Coordinating the change of ownership process, at both Federal and State or Territory level, so the timeline does not become the buyer's leverage.

→ Lease, staff and stock. Assignment or a new lease, employee transfers and entitlements, and how stock is valued at settlement.

→ Settlement. In a pharmacy, the buyer trades from the settlement date, so the handover has to be genuinely ready, not nearly ready.

We work exclusively with pharmacy and healthcare businesses, so you are not paying anyone to learn your industry on the way through.

Selling in the next 12 months? Get in touch early, while your position is still yours to protect: https://vitalitylawaustralia.com/contact/

The single most common thing we correct for pharmacy clients: the ACPA is not part of buying an existing pharmacy.It com...
03/09/2026

The single most common thing we correct for pharmacy clients: the ACPA is not part of buying an existing pharmacy.

It comes into it when you are opening a new pharmacy, relocating one, or for expansions and contractions.

That distinction changes your timeline, your budget and your risk, so it is worth getting straight before you commit to anything.

Swipe through for what the Australian Community Pharmacy Authority actually assesses, where the Pharmacy Location Rules sit, and what the process looks like end to end.

Planning a new site or a relocation? Get in touch before you sign anything, because the order you do things in matters: https://vitalitylawaustralia.com/contact/

Most pharmacy owners start getting ready to sell about six months too late.Not because they are disorganised. Because th...
01/09/2026

Most pharmacy owners start getting ready to sell about six months too late.

Not because they are disorganised. Because the things a buyer scrutinises are not the things you think about while you are running the shop.

Here is what we would want tidied up well before you go to market:

→ The lease. Term remaining, options, assignment provisions. A short lease with no options narrows your buyer pool before you have spoken to a single person.

→ Employment records. Contracts, classifications and accrued entitlements. Entitlements usually move with the business, so a buyer will price them in whether you have counted them or not.

→ Approvals. Your State or Territory approval, and your PBS approval if you hold one. Worth knowing now: the buyer applies for a new PBS approval, known as a change of ownership. It does not transfer with the keys, and it runs on its own timeline.

→ Your documents agreeing with each other. This sounds minor and it is not. Inconsistencies across your documents, especially the address of the pharmacy, cause real headaches and can hold up a settlement.

→ Script and dispensing data, clean and ready. Serious buyers ask early, and a slow answer reads as a red flag.

→ Supplier, wholesaler and banner agreements. Know what a buyer inherits and how long they are locked in.

The aim is not a perfect business. It is a business with no surprises in it.

Thinking about selling in the next year or two? Get in touch and we will help you work out what to sort out first: https://vitalitylawaustralia.com/contact/

A good lawyer is not automatically the right lawyer for your pharmacy.Pharmacy is one of the most regulated industries i...
30/08/2026

A good lawyer is not automatically the right lawyer for your pharmacy.

Pharmacy is one of the most regulated industries in Australia. If your lawyer has not worked in it before, you spend your deal explaining your own industry to them, on your time and at your cost.

What changes when they already know it:

- They understand that a straightforward purchase of an existing pharmacy can quickly become complex with all the moving parts
- They read your lease with the pharmacy in mind, not just the rent and the term
- They pick up structure and ownership issues early, rather than when your financier raises them
- They speak the same language as your broker, your accountant and the wholesaler

The cost of the alternative is rarely a dramatic mistake. It is delay and increased expenses. Questions that take a week to come back. Advice that arrives hedged because nobody is certain how the rules apply here. Deals run to timetables, and time spent educating your adviser comes out of the time you had to negotiate.

Our team works exclusively with pharmacy and healthcare businesses. You should not have to teach your lawyer your own industry.

Buying or selling this year? Don't wait, get in touch with our pharmacy legal experts now: https://vitalitylawaustralia.com/contact/

Three compliance gaps we see in pharmacies over and over.1. Employment contracts and classifications that have not been ...
26/08/2026

Three compliance gaps we see in pharmacies over and over.

1. Employment contracts and classifications that have not been reviewed in years. The award moves. Templates do not.

2. Workplace policies that exist on paper but were never rolled out or trained on.

3. Lease and ownership paperwork that no longer matches how the business actually runs.

None of these are dramatic. All of them are straightforward to fix on a quiet Tuesday, and expensive to fix during a dispute or a sale.

Not sure where your paperwork stands? Get in touch with our pharmacy lawyers now: https://vitalitylawaustralia.com/contact/

Meet Sarah Stoddart, founder of Vitality Law Australia.She started the firm in November 2020, for one fairly specific re...
26/08/2026

Meet Sarah Stoddart, founder of Vitality Law Australia.

She started the firm in November 2020, for one fairly specific reason:
Pharmacy owners kept having to teach their lawyers their own industry.

Before Sarah started the firm, she had worked at an international firm, in house at an ASX listed company, and in boutique practice. What she kept seeing was smart, commercially minded owners in one of the most regulated industries in the country, sitting across from advisers who were learning the basics on their time.

So she built the practice narrower on purpose. At Vitality Law Australia, we work exclusively with pharmacy and healthcare businesses. Buying, selling, staying compliant, growing, eventually exiting. That is the whole practice.

The other half of it is education, which is why Sarah hosts the Calm the Pharm podcast, speaks at conferences and writes for the industry press. The more owners understand the regulatory side, the fewer expensive surprises there are.

If you own a pharmacy and you have been putting off a legal question because it feels like too much to explain, that is exactly the conversation Sarah would like to have: https://vitalitylawaustralia.com/contact/

24/08/2026

Buying a pharmacy is not like buying any other business.

It is one of the most regulated purchases you can make in this country, and three things shape it before you get anywhere near price.

- Ownership. Pharmacies generally need to be owned by pharmacists, with limited exceptions, and there are limits on how many you can own in each State or Territory
- PBS approval. It does not come with the keys. The buyer usually applies for a new PBS approval, known as a change of ownership, before PBS medicines can be supplied from that site
- Due diligence. The lease, staff entitlements, script volumes, patient records, and what your competitors might be planning nearby

We have seen deals stall at settlement because nobody built the approval timing in.

Get the contract right before you shake hands on a price. Get in touch with our pharmacy law experts now: https://vitalitylawaustralia.com/contact/

A signed employment contract is not the same as a compliant one.The Pharmacy Industry Award sets the floor for most phar...
21/08/2026

A signed employment contract is not the same as a compliant one.

The Pharmacy Industry Award sets the floor for most pharmacy roles, and it moves even when your template does not.

What we see most often:

- Classifications that do not match the actual role, so the pay rate is wrong
- Rates that have not kept pace with award increases
- Casual and part time terms that ignore guaranteed hours and casual conversion
- Annualised salary clauses that do not cover the penalties and allowances required
- Contracts pointing to policies that were never written
- Contractor arrangements that look like employment in practice

It rarely surfaces while things are going well. It surfaces in a dispute, an underpayment claim, or mid sale when a buyer asks about entitlements.

Not sure your contracts still stack up? Get in touch with our pharmacy lawyers to get started: https://vitalitylawaustralia.com/contact/

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Brisbane, QLD
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