10. Restriction upon development or subdivision of land
Feedback & supportLast amended by an amending law of 1989. 2 amendments in all.
No person shall, without the written permission of the competent authority, develop any land.
Notwithstanding the provisions of any other written law, the permission of the competent authority under this section is a condition precedent to the consideration by a licensing authority of any application for the issue of a licence for any purpose involving development of land.
land
“land” includes buildings and any estate or interest in or right over land;
No person shall subdivide any land unless —
he has obtained the written permission of the competent authority, and a copy of his written permission has been forwarded by the competent authority to the Collector together with a plan of the permitted subdivision on which dimensions of all lots, widths of streets and backlanes and such other particulars as the competent authority may consider necessary are shown; and
he has made an application to the Collector and has deposited a sum sufficient to cover the fees for the survey of all lots comprised in the permitted subdivision or of such lots thereof as the Chief Surveyor may consider desirable to be surveyed at the same time:Provided that the Collector may accept such security in lieu of the deposit for survey fees as he may consider sufficient guarantee for the payment of fees when required.
All applications for permission to develop or subdivide land shall be made to the competent authority in the form and manner prescribed by rules made under section 30.
develop
“develop” means to carry out any building, engineering, mining or other operations in, on, over or under land, or the making of any material change in the use of any building or land:Provided that the following operations or uses of land shall not be deemed for the purposes of this Part to involve development of land:(a)the carrying out of works for the maintenance, improvement or other alteration of a building which do not materially affect the external appearance or the floor area of the building;(b)the carrying out by any statutory authority of any works required for the maintenance or improvement of a street being works carried out on land within the boundaries of the street;(c)the carrying out by any statutory authority of any works for the purpose of laying, inspecting, repairing or renewing any sewers, mains, pipes, cables or other apparatus including the breaking open of any street or other land for that purpose;(d)the carrying out under the authority of any health authority under the Destruction of Disease-Bearing Insects Act of any act authorised under the provisions of that Act; (e)the use of any existing building or land within the curtilage of a dwelling-house for any purpose incidental to the enjoyment of the dwelling-house as such;(f)the use of any land for the purposes of agriculture or forestry (including afforestation), and the use for any of those purposes of any building occupied together with land so used.(2) For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that for the purposes of this section —(a)the use as two or more separate houses of any building previously used as a single house involves a material change in the use of the building and of each part thereof which is so used;(b)the use as a dwelling-house of any building not originally constructed for human habitation involves a material change in the use of the building;(c)the use for other purposes of a building or part of a building originally constructed as a dwelling-house involves a material change in the use of the building;(d)the demolition of, reconstruction of or addition to a building constitutes development;(e)the use for the display of advertisements of any external part of a building which is not normally used for that purpose involves a material change in the use of the building; and(f)the deposit of refuse or waste materials on land involves a material change in the use thereof notwithstanding that the land is comprised of a site already used for that purpose, if the superficial area or the height of the deposit is thereby extended:Provided that nothing in this paragraph shall be deemed to require permission in respect of the deposit of refuse or waste materials on a site already used for that purpose if the height of the deposit does not exceed the level of the land adjoining the site, and the superficial area of the deposit is not thereby extended. [10 In this Part, except where the context otherwise requires,
In considering such applications, the competent authority may, subject to the rules made under section 30, grant permission to develop or subdivide the land, as the case may be, either unconditionally or subject to such conditions as he considers fit, or may refuse permission to develop or subdivide the land and in dealing with any such application the competent authority shall act in conformity with the provisions of the Master Plan and any Certified Interpretation Plan in so far as they may be material thereto.
Master Plan
“Master Plan” means the Master Plan including the written statement submitted to and approved by the Governor in Council on 5th August 1958 under the provisions of Part IV of the Singapore Improvement Ordinance, repealed by this Act, and the rules made thereunder and includes all alterations and additions thereto submitted to and approved by the Governor in Council or the Minister under those provisions and rules and the provisions of Part II of this Act and the rules made thereunder;
Without prejudice to subsection (5), conditions may be imposed on the grant of any permission given thereunder, and those conditions may limit the period for which the permission is granted and may provide —
for the commencement or completion of any work before the expiration of a specified period;
for requiring deposits to be placed with such public or statutory authority as the competent authority may specify to secure the compliance with the requirements of that public or statutory authority;
for compliance with any guidelines or requirements issued by the conservation authority for the purposes of conservation or any other requirements related thereto;
for requiring 30% of the floor area of any development to be under the ownership of one person for a period of 10 years from the date of the latest grant of a temporary occupation licence before the grant of the certificate of fitness in respect of the development; and
for the cancellation of such permission in the event of failure to comply with any condition imposed thereunder.
Every permission granted to carry out any building operations, on an application to develop, pursuant to subsection (4), shall lapse if the development is not completed within two years of the date of the grant of the permission or, in a case where an appeal has been brought against the conditions imposed by the competent authority, within two years of the date of the determination of the appeal:Provided that the competent authority may, in his discretion, renew the permission for such period as he may consider necessary.
building
“building” includes any house, hut, shed or roofed enclosure, whether used for the purpose of human habitation or otherwise, and also any wall, fence, platform, staging, gate, post, pillar, paling, frame, hoarding, slip, dock, wharf, pier, jetty, landing-stage or bridge, or any structure or foundation connected to the foregoing;
Any person who contravenes subsection (1) or (3), shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $3,000 and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $100 for every day after the first day during which the offence continues after conviction.
Any person who fails to comply with any condition imposed by the competent authority under subsection (5) or (6) or by the Minister under subsection (13) or by the Minister on appeal under section 17 shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $3,000.
Where any person fails to comply with any condition imposed by the competent authority or the Minister under this section or section 17, the competent authority may cancel the permission in relation to which the condition that the person failed to comply with was imposed.
The competent authority shall, within 3 months of the receipt of an application for permission to develop or subdivide any land, grant or refuse the application and shall, where the application is granted subject to conditions or refused, give his reasons in writing for his decision; except that if as a result of unavoidable circumstances the competent authority is not able to make a decision on an application to develop or subdivide any land, the competent authority may defer the decision on the application for such further period as the competent authority thinks fit.
The Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, authorise either generally or in any specified area operations involving the development of land.
The Minister may give directions to the competent authority requiring that all or any applications to develop or subdivide any land or any class of applications specified in the direction be referred to him instead of being dealt with by the competent authority and any such application shall be so referred accordingly to the Minister for his decision which shall be final. The decision of the Minister on any such application shall not be challenged or questioned in any court and the Minister may, in giving his decision, impose such conditions as he thinks fit to the granting of permission by the competent authority.
A competent authority intending to develop any land belonging to him may be directed by the Minister to furnish to the Minister particulars relating to the development and the Minister may give such further directions as he considers fit in relation thereto.
The competent authority shall keep a record of all permissions granted or refused by him and by the Minister under this section and a record of all decisions of the Minister made under section 17(2).
Copies of such records together with such plans as may be relevant thereto shall be made available for inspection to any member of the public on payment of such fees as may be prescribed. [9