A 2002 review of the laws found there were inadequate provisions around dispute resolution between a tenant and landlord.

A discussion paper on planned draft legislation released on Tuesday said "harsh, unjust or unconscionable" conduct was prohibited under the laws but the existing act did not provide adequate measures a party to seek redress.

The report said a new Retail Leases Act might also give businesses that operated in shopping centres power to change trading hours set by the landlords.

"The act may make provision for changing these hours by specifying the level of agreement required from tenants, for example, requiring 75 per cent of tenants to agree to a proposed change," it said.

Under existing laws, disclosure statements on annual sales and customer traffic at a shopping centres do not need to be provided to lessees.

The government would consider changing this.

It would consider whether a landlord could continue to be prevented from using the excuse of inadequate sales by a business as a reason to terminate a lease.

The requirement for a tenant to provide a landlord with a security deposit of three months' rent is also under consideration.

The paper said rent review mechanisms under current laws were "unwieldly and may hamper the parties' negotiations".

It said a tenant could now prevent a rent review if they refused to agree with a revaluation of their rental space or landlords could lose the ability to review rents if review estimates were not provided to tenants.

Submissions to the review of retail lease regulations can be made until November 11.

The most recent retail trade figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed its value went up 0.4 per cent in August to $554 million.