Singapore legislation
Section 31
Section 31
Housing developers
(1)
Except as provided in subsection (4), section 25 does not apply to housing developers.
(2)
A housing developer must, before the housing developer purchases or acquires an estate or interest in any residential property, apply to the Controller for approval to purchase or acquire the residential property.
(3)
Upon receipt of an application under subsection (2), the Controller may, with the Minister’s approval, grant approval subject to such terms and conditions as the Controller may think fit, including all or any of the following:
that the housing developer must carry out and complete the development of the residential property and must not sell, assign, transfer, sublease or otherwise dispose of the residential property or any part thereof in its vacant or undeveloped state without the prior approval of the Controller which may be granted with or without conditions;
that where the housing developer is a company, a limited liability partnership or a society, a person who holds any shares in the company or who is a partner in the limited liability partnership or member of the society must not, without the approval of the Controller (which may be granted with or without conditions), sell, assign, transfer or otherwise dispose of any of the person’s shares or any interest in such shares to any other person, or resign as such partner or member, as the case may be;
that the housing developer must provide such security as the Controller may determine for the purpose of developing that residential property, and that such security may be forfeited if the housing developer —
does not proceed with or complete the development within such period as the Controller may determine;
does not sell all the flats or dwelling houses in the development, or where the development comprises one or more buildings which have not been subdivided into units for sale, does not sell the whole development, to citizens or approved purchasers within a period of 2 years from the date of the issue by the relevant authority of a temporary occupation permit or certificate of statutory completion, whichever is the earlier, in respect of such flats, dwelling houses or any of the buildings; or
does not comply with any other terms and conditions which the Controller may impose under this section;
that the applicant must undertake, in writing, to comply with the conditions imposed by the Controller after the applicant has become the registered owner of that residential property under a transfer registered with the Registrar.
(4)
Where a housing developer desires to retain one or more flats or dwelling houses in the development after having completed the development, the housing developer may apply for such retention in the manner provided in section 25.
(5)
Subject to subsections (5A) and (5B), the Controller may extend any period mentioned in subsection (3)(c) and may, in his or her discretion, dispense with the requirement to provide security mentioned in subsection (3)(c).
(5A)
The Controller may, when extending any period mentioned in subsection (3)(c), require the housing developer to pay an extension charge of such amount as the Controller may determine.
(5B)
Any extension charge payable under subsection (5A) need not bear any relationship to the cost of considering an application for and of granting an extension of any period mentioned in subsection (3)(c).
(6)
Where a housing developer fails to comply with any of the conditions mentioned in subsection (3)(c) within the period determined by the Controller or any extension thereof, the Controller may forfeit the security provided by the housing developer under that subsection after giving 21 days’ notice in writing to the housing developer of the Controller’s intention to forfeit the security and the grounds thereof.
(7)
Where a housing developer fails to comply with any condition mentioned in subsection (3)(a) or (b), the Controller may, by written notice, require the housing developer to pay, within a specified period, a financial penalty of such amount (as the Controller thinks fit) not exceeding 50% of the purchase price of the residential property paid by the housing developer in its purchase or acquisition of the residential property, or of the market value of the shares, as the case may be.
(8)
The quantum of the financial penalty mentioned in subsection (7) must take into account any security provided by the housing developer under subsection (3)(c) and which has been forfeited under subsection (6).
(9)
Where a housing developer is a company, limited liability partnership or society and the Controller is of the opinion that the failure of the housing developer to comply with any condition mentioned in subsection (3)(a) or (b) was committed with the consent or connivance of, or was attributable to any neglect on the part of any person who is a director of the company, a partner of the limited liability partnership or a member of the governing body or board of trustees of the society (as the case may be), the Controller must, together with the notice under subsection (7) to the housing developer, inform the person concerned of the Controller’s opinion, and that person is then jointly and severally liable with the company, limited liability partnership or society to pay the financial penalty imposed under subsection (7).
(10)
Any financial penalty payable by any housing developer or any person under subsection (7) or (9) is recoverable by the Controller as a debt due to the Controller from that housing developer or person.
(11)
[Deleted by Act 35 of 2010]
(12)
[Deleted by Act 35 of 2010]
(13)
Upon approval being granted by the Controller to the housing developer to purchase or acquire any estate or interest in a residential property, the Controller must inform the Registrar.
(14)
The Registrar may, before registering any instrument of transfer in respect of any residential property made in favour of a housing developer, require a statutory declaration from that housing developer to be endorsed on the instrument of transfer in such form as the Registrar may require.
(15)
The Registrar may refuse to accept or to register the instrument of transfer mentioned in subsection (14) unless the statutory declaration made by that housing developer has been endorsed on the instrument of transfer.
(16)
The Registrar must, after registering the instrument of transfer mentioned in subsection (14), enter a notice on the relevant volume and folio of the land register in the Land Titles Registry of the Authority or in the books or other records maintained at the Registry of Deeds of the Authority (as the case may be) warning persons dealing with the registered proprietor therein named that the registered proprietor is prohibited from selling, assigning, transferring, subleasing or otherwise disposing of the land comprised therein in its vacant or undeveloped state.
(17)
The Registrar must cancel the notice mentioned in subsection (16) upon receipt of satisfactory evidence from the registered proprietor that the temporary occupation permit or the certificate of statutory completion for the whole of the development has been issued by the relevant authority, and no claim may be made by any person against the Registrar for any loss or damage suffered if the notice mentioned in subsection (16) is not entered on the land‑register in the Land Titles Registry of the Authority or in the books or other records maintained at the Registry of Deeds of the Authority (as the case may be) or is cancelled pursuant to this subsection.
(18)
In this section, “housing developer” means any person, being —
an individual who is not a citizen;
a foreign company, a converted foreign company, a foreign limited liability partnership, a converted foreign limited liability partnership, a foreign society or a converted society;
a Singapore company which has not complied with section 10(1);
a Singapore limited liability partnership which has not complied with section 11(1); or
a Singapore society which has not complied with section 16(1),who or which constructs or intends to construct flats or dwelling houses for sale, whether or not such person, company, limited liability partnership or society is licensed or required to be licensed as a housing developer under the Housing Developers (Control and Licensing) Act 1965.
(19)
For the purpose of determining under subsection (7) the financial penalty for contravening a condition, “market value”, in relation to shares in a company, means the market value of the shares at the date of the contravention of the condition.