Singapore legislation

Section 28

of Trustees Act 1967

Section 28

Protection against liability in respect of rents and covenants

(1)

This section applies to a personal representative or trustee liable as such for —

(a)

any rent, covenant or agreement reserved by or contained in any lease;

(b)

any rent, covenant or agreement payable under or contained in any grant made in consideration of a rentcharge; or

(c)

any indemnity given in respect of any rent, covenant or agreement mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b).

(2)

Where a personal representative or trustee mentioned in subsection (1) —

(a)

satisfies all liabilities under the lease or grant which may have accrued and been claimed, up to the date of any conveyance mentioned in paragraph (c); and

(b)

where necessary, sets apart a sufficient fund to answer any future claim that may be made in respect of any fixed and ascertained sum which the lessee or grantee agreed to lay out on the property demised or granted, although the period for laying out the same may not have arrived,then and in any such case the personal representative or trustee —

(c)

may convey the property demised or granted to a purchaser, legatee, devisee, or other person entitled to call for a conveyance of the property; and

(d)

may then distribute the residuary estate of the deceased testator or intestate, or (as the case may be) the trust estate (other than the fund, if any, set apart as referred to in paragraph (b)) to or among the persons entitled to it, without appropriating any part, or any further part (as the case may be) of the estate of the deceased or of the trust estate to meet any future liability under the lease or grant.

(3)

Despite any distribution referred to in subsection (2)(d), the personal representative or trustee shall not be personally liable in respect of any subsequent claim under the lease or grant.

(4)

This section —

(a)

operates without affecting the right of the lessor or grantor, or the persons deriving title under the lessor or grantor, to follow the assets of the deceased or the trust property into the hands of the persons among whom the same may have been respectively distributed; and

(b)

applies despite anything to the contrary in the will or other instrument (if any) creating the trust.

(5)

In this section —

Definition

“grant” applies to a grant whether the rent is created by limitation, grant, reservation, or otherwise, and includes an agreement for a grant and any instrument giving any indemnity mentioned in subsection (1) or varying the liabilities under the grant;

Definition

“lease” includes an underlease and an agreement for a lease or underlease and any instrument giving any indemnity mentioned in subsection (1) or varying the liabilities under the lease;

Definition

“lessee” and “grantee” include persons respectively deriving title under them.