Singapore lets listed housing developers with a substantial connection to Singapore apply for exemption from the QC regime

Announced

6 February 2020

Effective

6 February 2020

Issuing authority

Singapore Land Authority

Category

Foreign ownership

Affected market

Residential land acquired for development by a publicly listed housing developer that applies to the Controller of Residential Property and is approved against five administrative criteria, including a significantly Singaporean substantial shareholding interest. In law the exemption is a notification under section 32(1) of the Residential Property Act naming the company, which disapplies sections 9, 28, 28A and 31 for it, each for the activities its paragraph names; section 31(1) and (4) still apply to retaining a landed dwelling-house. Unlisted developers, listed developers without a notification, and the ABSD regime for housing developers are outside it.

Primary source

Publicly Listed Housing Developers with Substantial Connection to Singapore to be Exempted from Qualifying Certificate Regime

From 6 February 2020 a publicly listed housing developer with a substantial connection to Singapore could apply to the Controller of Residential Property for exemption from the qualifying certificate regime, the approval that section 31 of the Residential Property Act requires of a housing developer that is not a Singapore company before it buys residential land, unless an exemption applies or it buys from the Government. Applications are assessed against five administrative criteria, one of them a significantly Singaporean shareholding. The exemption is not automatic. The legal instruments found in a search of Singapore Statutes Online are notifications naming one company each, the earliest in operation from 14 August 2020. The ABSD regime for developers did not change.