News

Residential Property (Amendment) Bill Introduced 
Posted on Wednesday, January 18, 2006 - 02:00 PM

The Residential Property (Amendment) Bill introduced in Parliament on 16 January 2006.

This Bill seeks to amend the Residential Property Act (Cap. 274) as announced in Parliament by the Minister for National Development on 19th July 2005 and to make certain other amendments —
(a) to transfer the authority to approve the purchase or acquisition of any
residential property by housing developers from the Controller of Housing to
the Controller of Residential Property;
(b) to empower the court to confiscate benefits derived by an accused from the
commission of an offence under section 23 of purchasing or acquiring
residential property as a nominee of a foreign person;
(c) to raise the penalty for certain offences; and
(d) to streamline the administration of the Act.

On 19 July 2005, the Government announced several changes to the requirements of Qualifying Certificates (QCs) issued to foreign developers of residential properties. The changes are to the period for completion of projects and the amount of security to be provided for QCs.