Additional Rental Waivers Granted to Commercial & Social State Property Tenants; Co-Sharing of Rental Obligations for Rental Relief to Sub-Tenants

1.       The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) will be granting additional rental waivers to all eligible commercial and social sector tenants of State properties as part of the “Fortitude Budget” announced by the Government on 26 May 2020 to further support businesses with costs during the COVID-19 crisis.

2.       Eligible tenants in commercial accommodation, F&B, retail, recreation/entertainment, healthcare and other services, as well as social sector tenants of State properties will be granted an additional two months of rental waiver for June and July 2020. Together with the two-month rental waiver announced in the Unity Budget[1] and Resilience Budget[2], they will now be granted a total of four months’ rental waiver from April to July 2020. 

3.       Eligible tenants in commercial offices, industrial and agriculture sector tenants of State properties will be granted an additional one-month of rental waiver in June 2020.  On top of the one-month rental waiver announced under the Solidarity Budget in April, they will now receive a total of two months’ rental waiver.

Additional Rental Relief for Sub-Tenants

4.       The COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) (Amendment) Bill was passed in Parliament on 5 June 2020 to provide rental relief to eligible Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that have faced substantial financial impact from COVID-19 through co-sharing of rental obligations between the Government, landlords and tenants. In line with the Bill, SLA has notified tenants who have sub-tenanted the State properties (master tenants) of the following:

    (i)             Master tenants are required to waive their eligible SME and Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) sub-tenants’ rental payable for the months of April to July 2020, depending on the Eligible Sectors they are under. Eligible SME sub-tenants in commercial accommodation, F&B, retail, recreation/entertainment, healthcare and other services, as well as social sector are to receive four months’ rental waiver; and sub-tenants in commercial offices, industrial and agriculture sector are to receive two month’s rental waiver;

    (ii)            Master tenants are required to sign an undertaking that they have provided the mandated rental relief to eligible commercial SME and NPO sub-tenants; 

    (iii)          Master tenants can offset the rental relief granted to the sub-tenants by any previous monetary assistance provided from February 2020 onwards;

    (iv)           Both master tenants and sub-tenants with cash flow concerns may apply for deferred payment of rental arrears accumulated from 1 February 2020 up to 19 October 2020^[3] and repay their rental arrears in equal instalments over a nine-month period thereafter, with an interest capped at 3% per annum;

    (v)          In addition, both master tenants and sub-tenants have the option to offset rental arrears incurred from 1 February 2020 up to 19 October 2020 with their security deposit (SD), however a minimum of 1 month’s SD must be retained. The SD will have to be replenished to the contractual amount at the end of the nine-month repayment period; and

    (vi)         Master tenants with cash flow concerns may apply to SLA for assessment on the grounds of financial hardship if they are unable to provide the full rental waiver to the sub-tenants. Each request will be considered and assessed individually, taking into account the company’s circumstances.

5.       In total, rental waivers will be granted to over 2,000 commercial tenants and over 100 social sector tenants of State properties; with rental relief to be passed through to over 2,000 eligible sub-tenants.

6.       SLA’s past announcements on the rental waivers can be found at:

• SLA grants 0.5 Month of rental rebates to eligible tenants
• SLA grants additional rental waivers to support commercial and social sector tenants of State properties
• One-month rental waiver granted to commercial State property tenants in office, industrial and Agriculture sectors