Residential Property Bill

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“approved purchaser” means —

“citizen” or “citizen of Singapore” means any person who, under the provisions of the Constitution of Singapore, has the status of a citizen of Singapore; [RS (A) 14/66.]

“Committee” means the Residential Property Advisory Committee established under section 16 of this Act;

“Controller” means the Controller of Residential Property and includes a Deputy and an Assistant Controller of Residential Property appointed under section 19 of this Act;

“Controller of Housing” means the Controller of Housing appointed under section 3 of the Housing Developers (Control and Licensing) Act (Cap. 250);

“court” means the High Court;

“dwelling-house” includes any building or tenement, or any part thereof, which is used, constructed or adapted for use for human habitation;

“foreign company”, whether a holding company or otherwise, means —

“foreign person” means —

“land” includes land, freehold and leasehold, or of whatever tenure, whether or not held apart from the surface, and buildings or parts thereof (whether completed or otherwise and whether divided horizontally, vertically or in any other manner), and tenements and hereditaments, corporeal or incorporeal;

“local company” means a company formed or incorporated in Singapore, all of whose members and directors are citizens, or in the case of a member being another company, where all the members and directors of such other company are citizens;

“local society” means a society registered or exempted under the Societies Act (Cap. 262), all of whose members are citizens and all of whose trustees are either citizens or a trust company registered under the Trust Companies Act (Cap. 207);

“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 (Cap. 259, 1955 Ed) 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 the Planning Act (Cap. 279) and the rules made thereunder;

“member”, in relation to a foreign company or local company, includes any person entitled under the memorandum or articles of association or any resolution of the foreign company or local company to participate in its assets or in its divisible profits;

“Minister” means the Minister for Law and the Environment;

“mortgage” includes every instrument creating a mortgage or charge on land or a transfer of a mortgage or a sub-mortgage;

“permanent resident” means any person who is not subject to any restriction as to his period of residence in Singapore imposed under the provisions of any written law relating to immigration for the time being in force, and includes any person resident in Singapore who is deemed by the Committee, in its discretion, in the circumstances of any particular case to be a permanent resident for the purposes of this Act;

“Registrar” means —

“residential property” includes —

“society” means —

“to transfer”, with reference to residential property, means to convey, sell, assign, settle, create by declaration of trust, assent or in any manner dispose of any estate or interest in residential property, and includes the vesting of any estate or interest in residential property, but does not include a transfer by way of mortgage, charge or reconveyance; and “transfer” includes a conveyance, sale, assignment, settlement, declaration of trust, assent, disposition of whatever nature, the vesting of any estate or interest in residential property by an instrument or under a vesting order of court and every instrument capable of vesting any estate or interest in residential property upon registration of such instrument by the Registrar, but does not include a mortgage, charge or reconveyance.

The provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding the provisions of any other written law.

This Act shall not apply to the purchase or acquisition by, or a transfer to, a foreign person of any estate or interest in any flat (within the meaning of the Land Titles (Strata) Act (Cap. 277)) comprised in any building containing six or more storeys including the ground floor.

Except as provided in this Act —

Any —

No estate or interest in any residential property belonging to a deceased person who dies on or after the 11th day of September 1973, shall pass by bequest, succession or inheritance to any foreign person who is beneficially entitled under a will or under any written law governing intestate succession.

Where a foreign person would, but for subsection (3) of this section, 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 shall, subject to the provisions of subsection (5) of this section, be bound to sell such estate or interest in the residential property to a citizen or an approved purchaser within a period of five years of the date of the death of the deceased person 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.

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) of this section, the legal personal representatives or the trustees of the will or estate of the deceased person for the time being shall furnish to the Controller (within such period not exceeding six 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.

The Controller, after receipt of such statement or where no such statement has been received within the time specified, may attach and sell the residential property, and the provisions of subsections (7) to (9) of section 4 and section 5 of this Act shall apply mutatis mutandis.

Where the Controller has sold the residential property pursuant to the provisions of subsection (6) of this section, the Controller shall 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 shall be discharged from all liability in respect of the application of the proceeds of sale; or the Controller, if he is unable to make payment of the proceeds of sale and to obtain such acknowledgement as aforesaid, may make payment into court of such proceeds of sale less all costs incurred thereby.

Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (6) and (7) of this section, the Controller may, after receipt of the statement referred to in subsections (5) and (6) of this section, 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 provisions of this Act shall not apply to a foreign person who is a surviving joint tenant of any estate or interest in registered land within the meaning of the Land Titles Act (Cap. 276).

In this section, “letters of administration” and “probate” have the same meanings as in the Probate and Administration Act (Cap. 23).

Where, at the date of the coming into operation of this Act, a foreign person is a foreign company which is the owner of an estate or interest in any residential property in Singapore, the foreign company shall be bound to dispose of the same in accordance with the provisions of this section, unless such foreign company is permitted to retain its estate or interest in the residential property by virtue of section 16 of this Act or the residential property is exempted under section 22 of this Act.

Where, between the 11th day of September 1973 and the 11th day of September 1975, any foreign company was granted approval by the Minister to purchase or acquire any residential property from another foreign company or a local company pursuant to any scheme or arrangement of whatever nature whereby the second mentioned foreign company or local company transfers or agrees to transfer the whole or part of its assets or undertaking to the first mentioned foreign company, including its interests in residential properties in Singapore, whether for consideration or otherwise, the first mentioned foreign company shall, notwithstanding the grant of such approval, be subject to the provisions of this section.

Every foreign company to which this section applies shall, within such period as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, direct, furnish to the Controller a return setting out the size, location and nature of its estate or interest in all its residential properties and such other particulars as the Controller may require.

The Controller shall, upon receipt of a return from the foreign company under subsection (3) of this section, or in the event that a foreign company fails to furnish a return under that subsection within the period referred to in the notification in the Gazette, give directions in writing that within a period of five years of the date of the coming into operation of this Act (or within such further period as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, direct), the foreign company shall transfer all its estate or interest in all its residential properties to any citizen or approved purchaser.

A direction given by the Minister under subsection (3) of this section shall be served upon the foreign company which is required to transfer its estate or interest in residential properties.

Where a foreign company which is directed under subsection (4) of this section to dispose of its estate or interest in any residential property does not satisfy the Controller that it has transferred the same within the period (including any extensions) specified in that subsection, the Minister may, by notice in writing, direct the Controller to attach and sell the residential property at any time after three months of the date of the notice, and a copy of such notice shall be served on —

Before the Controller attaches and sells the residential property, he shall lodge with the Registrar —

The Registrar shall, upon receipt of —

Upon lodgment of the application and the copy of the notice with the Registrar pursuant to subsection (7) of this section, the Controller shall have the power to transfer any registered estate or interest in the residential property described in the application and notice as if the Controller is the registered proprietor of such residential property and to execute any instrument to effect a transfer of the same.

The Controller shall, as soon as practicable after he has lodged with the Registrar the application referred to in paragraph (a) or a copy of the notice referred to in paragraph (b) of subsection (7) of section 4 of this Act, sell the residential property or any part thereof specified in the notice referred to in subsection (6) of that section to a citizen or an approved purchaser.

Where the Controller has sold an estate or interest in any residential property under this section, the proceeds of the sale less any costs incurred, including legal, auctioneering, surveying and valuation costs in making the sale, which may be deducted by the Controller from the proceeds of sale, or recoverable by the Controller from such foreign company, shall be paid to the foreign company and any person having prior interest to such foreign company as shown in the records maintained under the Land Titles Act (Cap. 276), the Land Titles (Strata) Act (Cap. 277) or the Registration of Deeds Act (Cap. 281); and in case of any dispute arising as to payment of the proceeds of the sale, the Controller shall pay the sum under dispute into court less all costs incurred thereby.

Where, in pursuance of this section, the Controller has sold the estate or interest in any residential property, he shall not be liable to the foreign company which held the estate or interest in such residential property immediately prior to the date of the sale or any person claiming an estate or interest in such residential property, unless it is established that the Controller acted otherwise than in good faith or without reasonable care.

Nothing in section 4 of this Act or in this section shall prevent a foreign company, with the consent in writing of the Controller, from selling a residential property on its own accord to any citizen or approved purchaser after the notice referred to in subsection (6) of section 4 of this Act has been served, and in such an event the foreign company shall be liable to reimburse the Controller for all costs incurred by him between the date of the attachment and the date of sale by the foreign company, and the procedure laid down in subsections (5) to (8) of this section shall be followed by the Controller.

Where the Controller is of the opinion that circumstances have arisen since the date on which the application or copy of the notice was lodged under subsection (7) of section 4 of this Act, whether by virtue of a foreign company having previously sold the property under subsection (4) of this section or whether by the occurrence of an event (whether such event is a winding up under the Companies Act (Cap. 185), or the issue of an attachment order by a court or otherwise) which makes the sale of the residential property impracticable, the Controller shall refer the relevant particulars relating to the residential property to the Minister accompanied by a statement setting out his reasons as to why the residential property should not be sold, and the Minister may direct the Controller in writing that the residential property shall not be sold by the Controller pursuant to a notice under subsection (6) of section 4 of this Act.

After receipt of the direction of the Minister given pursuant to subsection (5) of this section, the Controller shall lodge with the Registrar —

The Registrar shall, upon receipt of —

The Registrar shall not thereafter register the application or the copy of the notice pursuant to subsection (7) of this section unless an instrument of transfer effectively divesting the estate or interest in such residential property in favour of a citizen or an approved purchaser has been lodged for registration with the Registrar.

Where, after the date of the coming into operation of this Act, any local company has ceased to be a local company and becomes a foreign company, or any local society has ceased to be a local society and becomes a society within the meaning of this Act, the Minister may, by notice in writing in the manner provided in subsection (6) of section 4 of this Act, direct that the estate or interest of such foreign company or society in all its residential properties shall be attached and sold by the Controller in accordance with the provisions of sections 4 and 5 of this Act and a copy of the notice shall be served on —

Upon service of the said notice, the provisions of subsections (7) to (9) of section 4 and section 5 of this Act shall apply to such foreign company and society in respect of all such residential properties.

Notwithstanding anything contained in any written law relating to companies, or in the memorandum or articles of association of a local company, a local company to which this section applies shall comply with the following provisions, that is to say: —

Upon any amendment to its memorandum or articles of association being made as required by subsection (1) of this section, the local company shall —

The Registrar, before registering an instrument of transfer of an estate or interest in any residential property in favour of the local company, may require to be satisfied that —

Every local company shall file with the Controller on or before the 1st day of April of each year a Statutory Declaration made by its secretary or a director thereof furnishing particulars of the citizenship status of each of its members and directors.

Any local company which contravenes any of the provisions of —

Notwithstanding any written law or the constitution and rules of any society, a local society to which this section applies shall, upon acquiring any estate or interest in any residential property in Singapore on or after the date of the coming into operation of this Act and prior to the vesting of the estate or interest in that residential property in the trustees of that local society —

Upon any amendment to the constitution and rules of such society being made as required by subsection (1) of this section, the local society shall file with the Controller a copy of its amended constitution and rules together with a list of its trustees and members, with particulars of their citizenship status and such other particulars as the Controller may require, accompanied by a Statutory Declaration made by a trustee of the society on its behalf that all its members are citizens and all its trustees are citizens or a trust company registered under the Trust Companies Act; and after receipt thereof the Controller may, if he is satisfied that his requirements have been complied with, confirm in writing that such local society may acquire any residential property subject to such conditions as he may think fit.

The Registrar, before registering an instrument of transfer of an estate or interest in any residential property in favour of the local society, may require to be satisfied that —

The trustees of every local society shall file with the Controller on or before the 1st day of April of each year a Statutory Declaration made by a trustee of the society on its behalf furnishing particulars of the citizenship status of each of its members and trustees.

The trustees of any local society who contravene any of the provisions of —

In every instrument of conveyance or transfer of land (other than a mortgage, charge or reconveyance) lodged with the Registrar on or after the 11th day of September 1976, there shall be specified, after the name of the person acquiring an estate or interest in land, the name of the country of which he is a citizen, together with the number of the identity card issued to him under the National Registration Act (Cap. 45) or other evidence of his citizenship if he is a citizen of Singapore and, if he is a citizen of any other country, the number of his passport and of such identity card (if he has been issued with one); and where the purchaser is a body corporate there shall be specified its place of registration or incorporation.

Every such person acquiring a title or interest in land under such instrument shall certify on the instrument that the particulars specified in accordance with subsection (1) of this section are correct, and if such person employs an advocate and solicitor to act for him, such advocate and solicitor shall so certify in such form as may be approved by the Registrar. For the purposes of this subsection, the Registrar may require the production of such document as he may think fit.

The Registrar has the power to refuse registration of any such conveyance or transfer wherein the particulars required by subsection (1) of this section are not specified or wherein the certification required by subsection (2) of this section has not been effected, and where the Registrar has accepted any such conveyance or transfer, he has the power to cancel the provisional registration of any such conveyance or transfer or require the person lodging such conveyance or transfer to withdraw it from registration.

The Registrar may presume that every instrument of transfer or conveyance of land (other than a mortgage, charge or reconveyance) made in favour of a foreign person and lodged for registration with the Registrar is in respect of residential property and that any agreement for sale and purchase of such land was made after the date of the coming into operation of this Act unless evidence to the contrary is produced to the satisfaction of the Registrar.

Where any person acquiring an estate or interest in land under any such instrument of transfer or conveyance employs an advocate and solicitor to act for him, the Registrar may require the advocate and solicitor to furnish an appropriate certificate or certificates in such form or forms as the Registrar may require. Such certificates shall be endorsed on such instrument of transfer or conveyance.

The Registrar has the power to refuse to accept any instrument of transfer or conveyance for registration or to refuse to complete registration of such instrument —

Where any estate or interest in any residential property is vested in any foreign person and such foreign person is desirous of transferring the same, he shall not transfer any estate or interest in such residential property to any person other than a citizen or an approved purchaser.

Any transfer made by such foreign person in contravention of subsection (1) of this section shall be null and void.

No mortgagee or chargee, when exercising his power of sale in respect of any estate or interest in any residential property, shall transfer such estate or interest to a foreign person.

Every mortgagee who, in relation to an estate or interest in any residential property, has obtained an order for foreclosure or who becomes vested by an instrument or otherwise with the entirety of such estate or interest, shall sell to a citizen or an approved purchaser such estate or interest within a period of two years of the date of such order or of the date of the vesting of such estate or interest in the mortgagee; but the Minister shall have power to extend such period, from time to time, for such cause as appears to him to be just and reasonable.

Where such mortgagee does not sell such estate or interest in the residential property within the period specified (including any extensions) in subsection (2) of this section, the Minister may, by notice in writing, direct that the mortgagee’s estate or interest in such residential property shall be attached and sold by the Controller, and the provisions of sections 4 and 5 of this Act shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to the manner of disposal of such estate or interest of the mortgagee as those provisions apply to the manner of the disposal of an estate or interest of a foreign company.

The provisions of subsections (2) and (3) of this section shall apply only to mortgagees who are foreign persons.

No —

Any trust created in whatever manner or form pursuant to subsection (1) of this section shall be null and void and there shall be no resulting trust in favour of the foreign person; and any contract or covenant between such citizen or approved purchaser and the foreign person in respect of such residential property or any estate or interest therein shall be null and void.

The Registrar, upon discovering that any instrument of transfer contains any such void trust and such instrument is pending final registration or has been finally registered with the Registrar, shall enter a note in such instrument or the registration copy thereof, as the case may be, stating that such trust is null and void by virtue of subsection (2) of this section.

The Registrar, if he considers or is informed in writing by the Controller that any transfer lodged with him contravenes any of the provisions of this Act, shall not complete the registration of the transfer.

The transfer in such event shall remain provisionally registered and the Registrar shall cause an entry to be made —

No action or claim shall be made against the decision of the Registrar to suspend the final registration of the transfer.

The party or the advocate and solicitor acting for the party claiming under the transfer shall be served with a notice in writing by the Registrar of such decision and such party may seek a declaration from the court as to whether the transfer contravenes any of the provisions of this Act, and, if so, is to be declared null and void.

All costs incidental to the action taken by the party claiming under the transfer, notwithstanding the declaration of the court, shall be borne by the party seeking the declaration.

If no declaration is sought from the court within a period of six months of the date of service of the notice in writing issued and served by the Registrar under subsection (4) of this section, the Registrar shall, without giving further notice to the party claiming under the transfer, proceed to cancel the registration of such transfer and all relating instruments, and no claim shall be made against the Registrar for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of such cancellation.

Where any transfer which contravenes any of the provisions of this Act has been finally registered by the Registrar, the court may, on the application of the Controller, order rectification of the land-register by directing that the registration of the transfer and any relating instrument be cancelled.

For the purposes of this Act, there shall be a committee to be known as the “Residential Property Advisory Committee” which shall consist of a Chairman and such number of other members as the Minister may, from time to time, appoint for such period as he may think fit. Any member so appointed who ceases to be a member shall be eligible for re-appointment.

Subject to the provisions of section 17 of this Act, any foreign person who desires to purchase, acquire or retain any estate or interest in any residential property (hereinafter in this section referred to as the “applicant”) shall make application (hereinafter in this section referred to as the “application”) to the Controller, in respect thereof, in such form as the Controller may require, for the grant of approval to acquire or to retain residential property, as the case may be.

Every such application shall state such particulars as the Controller may require.

The Controller shall forward every such application to the Committee; and after consideration thereof, the Committee shall make recommendations thereon to the Minister who may, in his absolute discretion, grant, with or without conditions (or refuse to grant), approval —

Without prejudice to the generality of the powers of the Minister under subsection (4) of this section, he may, in his discretion, grant approval, with or without conditions, to any applicant, being a natural person, who intends to purchase or acquire residential property for the purpose of his own occupation and that of his family as a dwelling-house and not for the purpose of rental or any other purpose; and for the purposes of this subsection

“an applicant” means one —

Without prejudice to the generality of the powers of the Minister under subsection (4) of this section, he may grant approval, with or without conditions, to an applicant, being a foreign company which —

The Minister may require the applicant referred to in subsections (5) and (6) of this section to give an undertaking in writing in such form as may be required that such applicant being —

Any natural person or any foreign company who or which is in breach of any undertaking given pursuant to subsection (7) of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or to both such fine and imprisonment.

There shall be appointed by the President a Controller of Residential Property who shall have charge of the administration of this Act, subject to any general or special directions of the Minister.

The President may also appoint such Deputy Controllers and Assistant Controllers of Residential Property as may be necessary for the carrying out of the provisions of this Act.

Where any Deputy Controller or Assistant Controller of Residential Property is appointed, such Deputy Controller or Assistant Controller of Residential Property shall carry out the provisions of this Act, subject to the general or special directions of the Controller.

The Controller of Housing, the Comptroller of Property Tax appointed under the Property Tax Act (Cap. 144), the Controller of Immigration appointed under the Immigration Act (Cap. 81) and any competent authority appointed under the Planning Act shall render all possible assistance and make available all necessary information to the Controller for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act.

Every diplomatic or consular mission or religious group in Singapore which intends to purchase or acquire any residential property for its use shall not be bound by the procedures laid down in section 16 of this Act but shall first seek the permission in writing of the Minister for such purchase or acquisition.

For the purposes of this section, “religious group” includes any group, body, denomination, institution or organisation which professes any religion.

Section 16 of this Act shall not apply to housing developers.

A housing developer shall, before he purchases or acquires an estate or interest in any residential property, apply to the Controller of Housing for a certificate (hereinafter in this section referred to as a “qualifying certificate”) that he is qualified to purchase or acquire that residential property.

After receipt of an application under subsection (2) of this section, notwithstanding the provisions of the Housing Developers (Control and Licensing) Act (Cap. 250), the Controller of Housing may, with the approval of the Minister for National Development, issue a qualifying certificate and may impose such terms and conditions upon the housing developer, including the following, as he may think fit: —

The Controller of Housing may extend the periods fixed under paragraph (b) of subsection (3) of this section and may, in his discretion, dispense with the provision as to security referred to in that subsection.

Upon the Controller of Housing issuing a qualifying certificate to the housing developer, the Controller of Housing shall forward a copy thereof to the Registrar.

The Registrar, before registering any instrument of transfer in respect of any residential property made in favour of a foreign person who is a housing developer, may require a Statutory Declaration together with an undertaking from such foreign person to be endorsed on the instrument of transfer in such form as he may require; and the Registrar has the power to refuse to accept or to register such instrument of transfer unless such Statutory Declaration and undertaking made by such foreign person has been endorsed on the instrument of transfer itself.

For the purposes of this section, “housing developer” means —

The Minister may, if he considers it to be in the economic interest of Singapore or for any other cause which appears to him necessary or expedient or if in his opinion the circumstances so warrant, from time to time, by regulations or by notification in the Gazette or otherwise, exempt permanently or for such period or periods as he may think fit and subject to such conditions as he may consider necessary, from all or any of the provisions of this Act —

For the purposes of paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section, the expression

“building” means any building of whatsoever nature or howsoever described and includes any flat within the meaning of the Land Titles (Strata) Act (Cap. 277), whether or not such building or flat is completed or proposed to be erected.

The Minister may make regulations for the purposes of carrying out any of the provisions of this Act.

Such regulations may contain such provisions as the Minister may deem necessary or expedient for the purpose of preventing the frustration or evasion of the provisions of this Act.

All such regulations shall be published in the Gazette and shall be presented to Parliament as soon as may be after publication.

The Minister may make rules, not inconsistent with this Act, prescribing all matters which are required, necessary, or convenient to be prescribed, for carrying out or giving effect to this Act and, in particular and without limiting the generality of the foregoing power, the Minister may make rules —

All such rules shall be published in the Gazette and shall be presented to Parliament as soon as may be after publication.

No legal proceedings whatsoever shall lie or be instituted or maintained in any court of law for or on account of or in respect of any act, decision or thing done or taken by the Government, or any Minister, officer or committee thereof, during the period from the 11th day of September 1973 to the 11th day of September 1975, if done or taken in good faith in the execution of duty.

No legal proceedings in respect of any such act, decision or thing which is alleged to have been done or taken in bad faith in the execution of duty during the period from the 11th day of September 1973 to the 11th day of September 1975, shall be instituted or maintained in any court of law unless a certificate of the Attorney-General shall first have been obtained sanctioning the institution of such legal proceedings.

All directions whether of a procedural nature or otherwise made during the period from the 11th day of September 1973 to the 11th day of September 1975, by or in the name of the Government or any Minister, officer or committee thereof, shall be deemed to be, and always to have been, validly made, notwithstanding that such directions have been revoked or amended or are or have been inconsistent with, or in conflict with, or contrary to any written law or law previously in force.

Except as provided in subsection (2) of section 4 of this Act, any approval granted or any disapproval for the purchase of residential property by the Government, or any Minister, officer or committee thereof, during the period from the 11th day of September 1973 to the 11th day of September 1975, shall be deemed to have been made under this Act.

The Conveyancing and Law of Property Act (Cap. 268) is hereby amended —

The Land Titles Act (Cap. 276) is hereby amended —

The Registration of Deeds Act (Cap. 281) is hereby amended by inserting immediately after subsection (3) of section 8 thereof the following new subsection: —“(4) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to any assurance in respect of any estate or interest in any residential property within the meaning of the Residential Property Act, 1975, lodged with the Registrar on or after the date of the coming into operation of that Act.”.