Residential Property Act 1976 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 2 · Prohibition on Purchase or Acquisition of Residential Property by Foreign Persons
3. Prohibition on transfer to, or purchase or acquisition by, foreign persons of residential property
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Except as the Act provides, residential property must not be transferred to a foreign person, who may acquire it only by mortgage, charge or reconveyance. A foreign person cannot inherit residential property from someone dying on or after 11 September 1973. The legal personal representatives must sell it within 5 years from the date of the death, or any extension.
Summary · Drafted with AI, checked against the official text on 30 Sep 2026.
Last amended by an amending law of 2010. 2 amendments in all.
Except as provided in this Act —
a person must not, whether for consideration or by way of gift inter vivos or otherwise, transfer any residential property or any estate or interest therein to any foreign person;
a person must not create any trust for sale in respect of any residential property or any estate or interest therein in favour of any foreign person; and
a foreign person must not purchase or acquire any residential property or any estate or interest therein except by way of a mortgage, charge or reconveyance.
Any —
transfer of any residential property or of any estate or interest therein by any person to a foreign person made in contravention of subsection (1)(a);
trust for sale in respect of any residential property or any estate or interest therein created by any person in favour of any foreign person in contravention of subsection (1)(b); and
purchase or acquisition of any residential property or of any estate or interest therein by any foreign person, except by way of a mortgage, charge or reconveyance, made in contravention of subsection (1)(c),is void.
No estate or interest in any residential property belonging to a deceased person who dies on or after 11 September 1973 passes by bequest, succession or inheritance to any foreign person who is beneficially entitled under a will or under any written law governing intestate succession.
residential property
“residential property” includes —(a)any vacant land upon which no building or other structure exists or any land upon which exists any building or other structure which is constructed or used contrary to any written law;(b)any house, building or other premises or any part thereof which is permitted to be used pursuant to the Planning Act 1998 or any other written law as a dwelling house or which is lawfully so used;(c)any land zoned for residential purposes in the Master Plan; and(d)such other land or building, in whatever manner zoned in the Master Plan, as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, declare to be residential property for the purposes of this Act,but does not include —(e)any land, whether or not vacant, which is zoned for industrial or commercial purposes or both such purposes in the Master Plan or which is permitted to be used pursuant to the Planning Act 1998 or any other written law solely for industrial or commercial purposes or both such purposes;(f)any house, building or other premises, or any part thereof, which is permitted to be used pursuant to the Planning Act 1998 or any other written law solely for industrial or commercial purposes or both such purposes or which is lawfully so used;(g)any hotel registered under the provisions of the Hotels Act 1954; and(h)such other land or building, in whatever manner zoned in the Master Plan, as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, declare to be industrial, commercial or non‑residential property for the purposes of this Act;
Where a foreign person would, but for subsection (3), be beneficially entitled to an estate or interest in residential property, the legal personal representatives to whom probate or letters of administration are granted in respect of such residential property are, subject to subsection (5), bound to sell such estate or interest in the residential property to a citizen or an approved purchaser within a period of 5 years from the date of the death of the deceased person, or within any extension thereof allowed under subsection (12), and upon such sale to pay, subject to the law of wills and intestate succession, the proceeds thereof, less any expenses necessarily incurred on such sale or by reason of the administration of a deceased’s estate, to or for or on behalf of the foreign person so beneficially entitled.
foreign person
“foreign person” means any person who is not any of the following:(a)a citizen of Singapore;(b)a Singapore company;(c)a Singapore limited liability partnership;(d)a Singapore society;
Where the legal personal representatives have not sold, or have not been able to sell, the estate or interest in the residential property within the period specified in subsection (4), the legal personal representatives or the trustees of the will or estate of the deceased person for the time being must provide to the Controller (within such period not exceeding 6 months as the Controller may require) a statement setting out the particulars of the residential property which has not been sold, giving reasons for their failure or omission to sell.
Controller
“Controller” means the Controller of Residential Property and includes a Deputy and an Assistant Controller of Residential Property appointed under section 29;
The Controller must, after receipt of such statement or where no such statement has been received within the time specified, seek the direction of the Minister, and the Minister may issue to the Controller a notice to attach and sell the residential property, and a copy of such notice must be served on —
the legal personal representatives to whom probate or letters of administration have been granted in respect of the residential property in question; and
the subsisting mortgagees or chargees (if any) of the residential property who appear as such in the relevant records in the Land Titles Registry or the Registry of Deeds of the Authority, as the case may be.
[Deleted by Act 9 of 2006]
[Deleted by Act 9 of 2006]
[Deleted by Act 9 of 2006]
Where the Controller has sold the residential property pursuant to the notice to attach and sell under subsection (6), the Controller must pay the proceeds of the sale less any costs incurred to the legal personal representatives or the trustees of the will or estate of the deceased person for the time being and upon the acknowledgment of the receipt of such proceeds of sale by the legal personal representatives or the trustees, the Controller is discharged from all liability in respect of the application of the proceeds of sale; or the Controller, if he or she is unable to make payment of the proceeds of sale and to obtain such acknowledgment as aforesaid, may make payment into court of such proceeds of sale less all costs incurred thereby.
notice to attach and sell
“notice to attach and sell” means any notice issued by the Minister under section 3(6), 3A(3), 4(8), 5(7), 9(11), 22(3), 27(3) or 32(2A) directing the Controller to attach and sell in accordance with this Act such estate or interest in such residential property or land as is specified in the notice;
Where payment of the proceeds of sale has been made by the Controller as provided in subsection (10), every foreign person beneficially entitled under a will or by intestate succession is entitled to receive and must be paid such proceeds of sale by the legal personal representatives or trustees of the will or estate of the deceased person for the time being, and in any case where the proceeds of sale have been paid into court, that foreign person is entitled to make application to court for payment out of court of the proceeds of sale to be made to that foreign person, and the payment of the proceeds of sale in either case must be in accordance with the terms of the will or the law of wills or intestate succession, as the case may be.
Despite subsections (4) and (6), the Controller may, after receipt of the statement mentioned in subsections (5) and (6), with the approval of the Minister, allow such extension of time, as the Controller may think fit, for the sale of the estate or interest in such residential property.
The Controller may, when allowing an extension of time under subsection (12), impose such conditions as he or she thinks fit, including a condition that the legal personal representatives must provide such security as the Controller may determine for the purposes of complying with any condition imposed by the Controller.
If the legal personal representatives fail to comply with any of the conditions imposed by the Controller under subsection (12A), the Controller may forfeit (in part or whole) the security provided by the legal personal representatives under this section, after giving 21 days’ notice in writing to the legal personal representatives of the Controller’s intention to forfeit the security and the grounds thereof.
The legal personal representatives may, upon receipt of the notice under subsection (12B), appeal to the Minister within 3 months from the date of that notice.
The Minister may determine an appeal under subsection (12C) by confirming or varying the Controller’s decision to forfeit the security, or by ordering the refund (in part or whole) of any security forfeited under subsection (12B); and the decision of the Minister on any such appeal is final and shall not be called in question in any court.
The provisions of this Act do not apply to a foreign person who is a surviving joint tenant of any estate or interest in land.
In this section, “letters of administration” and “probate” have the meanings given by the Probate and Administration Act 1934.