Sale of Commercial Properties (Amendment) Bill

Where a developer has sold any commercial property and has not —

sought the direction of the Registrar of Titles under section 13 of the Land Titles Act (Cap. 276) or complied with the said direction; or

applied for the grant of written permission for the relevant strata subdivision under subsection (3) of section 9 of the Planning Act (Cap. 279) or complied with the requirements of the competent authority necessary for the purpose of obtaining written permission for such strata subdivision; or

employed any registered surveyor to carry out the necessary surveys and prepare the necessary plans for submission to the Chief Surveyor to enable a subsidiary strata certificate of title to be issued for the commercial property, or has failed to cause amendments to these plans to be made as required by the Chief Surveyor; or

in the case where the Registrar of Titles has directed under section 13 of the Land Titles Act (Cap. 276) that the land on which the commercial property is built be brought under the provisions of the Land Titles Act, obtained a subsidiary strata certificate of title for the said property under the provisions of the Land Titles (Strata) Act (Cap. 277); or

discharged any mortgage (whether legal or equitable) or charge on the land of which the commercial property forms part so as to enable the developer to fulfill his obligation as vendor to complete the sale and purchase of the commercial property; or

executed and delivered to the purchaser an assurance of the commercial property sold on or before the date fixed for completion of the sale as agreed between the developer and the purchaser,the Controller may, in his discretion, issue directions in writing to the developer to take such steps or action as may be specified by the Controller within such time or times as the Controller may appoint.(2) Any person who refuses or fails to comply with any direction of the Controller given under subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both such fine and imprisonment and to a further fine not exceeding one thousand dollars for every day during which the offence is continued after conviction.(3) Any exercise of the powers conferred upon the Controller by subsection (1) shall not prejudice the right of the purchaser to claim liquidated damages for the developer’s failure to complete the sale of any commercial property on or before the date appointed for the completion of the sale of the property.(4) For the purposes of this section —“developer” means any person who has obtained the approval of the competent authority to develop any land pursuant to section 9 of the Planning Act (Cap. 279) and includes his executors and administrators, successors-in-title or assigns;“purchaser” includes a sub-purchaser.(5) The powers conferred upon the Controller under this section may be exercised with respect to any commercial property sold by a developer at any time prior to the 20th day of July 1979.”.

This Act shall not apply to the sale of any commercial property —

in a building containing, or a building which when erected will contain, not more than four separate units; or

where the certificate of fitness for occupation has been issued by the Building Authority and the subsidiary strata certificate of title, if applicable, has been issued by the Registrar of Titles in respect of the commercial property.(2) The Minister may, by notification published in the Gazette, exempt any person or commercial property from any of the provisions of this Act or any rules made thereunder, either absolutely or subject to such conditions as he thinks fit.”.