Government measures in key jurisdictions 4th edition - Flipbook - Page 113
Singapore
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– Extension of time by 6 months for the commencement and completion of residential
development, and sale of housing units in residential development projects in relation to the
remission of the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (“ABSD”) for housing developers.
– Extension of time by 6 months for the sale of the first residential property in relation to the
remission of ABSD for the second residential property purchased by a Singaporean married
couple.
Rental Relief for SMEs: The SG government announced on 26 May 2020, as part of the
Fortitude Budget, rental relief for SMEs operating in qualifying non-residential properties. SMEs
are defined as enterprises with not more than $100 million in annual turnover in the Financial
Year ending 2018, based on Year of Assessment 2019 corporate or individual income tax
returns. The annual turnover is based on entity level, as opposed to group level. Taken together
with the Property Tax Rebate from the Resilience and Unity Budgets, the Government will be
providing rental assistance for eligible tenants who are SMEs or qualifying non-profit
organisations as follows: 2 months of rental assistance for qualifying commercial properties, or
1 month of rental assistance for other non-residential properties (e.g. industrial and office
properties).
Additional Rental Relief is available for SMEs and non-profit organisations that qualify for
Rental Relief and fulfil additional eligibility criteria. The additional relief is as follows: 2 months
of rental assistance for qualifying commercial properties (borne by landlord), 1 month of rental
assistance for industrial/office properties (borne by landlord). For private non-residential
properties, the rental assistance will be given in a form of a cash grant to qualifying property
owners who have eligible SME tenants/ sub-tenants/ licensees/ sub-licensees (“eligible
tenants”) or who are SME owners operating in the non-residential property. Eligible tenants
must have qualifying leases or licenses (i) entered into before 25 March 2020 or (ii) entered into
before 25 March 2020 but expired and renewed automatically, or in exercise of a right of
renewal in the contract.
Measures to protect tenants: On 5 June 2020, the SG government passed the Covid-19
(Temporary Measures)(Amendment) Bill 2020 which provides for measures which seek to
mitigate the economic impact caused on tenants and landlords, purchasers and developers by the
Covid-19:
– Rental relief to SME tenants: Apart from rental relief by the SG government, landlords are
now required to grant additional rental relief to SME tenants of non-residential properties (that
meet four broad conditions) who have suffered significantly (i.e. suffered a substantial drop in
average monthly revenue due to Covid-19 whereby the average monthly revenue from April to
May 2020 on an outlet level is reduced by 35 per cent or more as compared to the same period
in 2019).
– Statutory Repayment Scheme: SME tenants that qualify for the aforementioned landlord
relief can also repay rental arrears accumulated from 1 February 2020 to 19 October 2020 under
a prescribed statutory repayment schedule by serving a written notice on their landlords. Once
this notice has been served, the tenants must service the first instalment no later than 1
November 2020. Under the repayment schedule, tenants will pay a specified portion of their
arrears in equal instalments over an extended period of time (up to a maximum of nine months
or the remaining term of tenancy, whichever is shorter), with interest on these capped at 3 per
cent per annum.
–Rules on Holdover: Due to Covid-19 and circuit-breaker restrictions, some tenants have faced
difficulties vacating their premises at the end of their lease term and before the expiry of the
prescribed period. Tenants who are able to show that the inability to vacate the property is
caused by a Covid-19 event and other conditions must serve a notification of relief on the
landlord and will not be liable to pay the landlord any sums in excess of such amount as may be
prescribed, for failure to vacate the property.
Government measures in key jurisdictions