Singapore brings foreign purchases of Commercial and Residential zoned land under Residential Property Act approval, with transitional exemptions

S 511/2023 added four zones to the Schedule as items (25) to (28): Business 1 (B1), Business 2 (B2), and the White variants of Business 1 and Business 2.

STATUTE. A count of new items, so no before-value is stored. The Schedule prints the two White zone names with a dash, which house style does not reproduce here.

The release said seven uses were added to the list because residential uses are typically not allowed on them: Business 1, Business 2, their two White variants, Commercial/Institution, Reserve Site and Special Use.

ANNOUNCEMENT. The seven reconcile exactly with the Notification as four new items, (25) to (28), plus three entries placed in existing slots, items (1), (16) and (21). The list did not grow by six: counted by listed zones it held 24 entries before and after (claim 17).

The Schedule listed 24 zones immediately before 20 July 2023 and 24 zones after it, in 28 numbered items of which four are marked deleted.

A count made here from the two versions of the Schedule, not a figure printed in any source, hence hand-derived. It counts entries, not land area or sites. Carried so that the release's seven additions are not read as net growth.

SLA says that where the owner died on or after 20 July 2023, a foreign beneficiary needs approval to acquire Commercial and Residential property by will or intestacy, and without it must dispose of the interest within 5 years of the death.

GUIDANCE, consistent with the Act. The five years match s 3(4), under which the legal personal representatives must sell to a citizen or approved purchaser within 5 years of the death. That rule was not set by this event, so no before-value exists; what changed is that it now reaches Commercial and Residential land.

SLA says an application to retain and redevelop Commercial and Residential property goes to its Land Dealings Approval Unit. The Q&A dated 20 July 2023 states a fee of S$1,060.

Guidance, as at 20 July 2023. Verified as the fee the Q&A states on its date, not as a current fee. The current fee was not verified for this event and must be checked separately before it is used in an application workflow. Not reconciled with the Residential Property (Fees) Rules: the held extract of their Schedule does not carry this item, and what S 513/2023 changed on 20 July 2023 is unknown (claim 23). SLA describes other applications as carrying a non-refundable fee without stating the amount.

From 20 July 2023 Commercial and Residential is no longer an entry in the Schedule of zones whose land is declared non-residential under the Residential Property Notification (N 7), because S 511/2023 replaced item (1), Commercial and Residential, with Commercial/Institution. The Schedule entry changed; the amendment did not itself rezone any site.

STATUTE. No structured value: the change is the removal of a listed zone, and the digits are an item number, a Gazette number and a date. S 511/2023 amends a list in a notification made under the Act, not the Master Plan, so no land's zoning changed by it. The Notification replaces the item rather than using the word remove; the release calls it removal from the list. Commercial/Institution is a different zone that took the vacated slot, so Commercial and Residential land was neither rezoned nor reclassified as Commercial/Institution.

The Ministry of Law and SLA said that from 20 July 2023 a foreign person, individual or entity, intending to purchase or acquire an interest in land zoned or property permitted for Commercial and Residential use would need to apply for approval under the Residential Property Act. The requirement is not unconditional: S 512/2023 exempts existing owners, and acquisitions under options, agreements and deaths before 20 July 2023, until its cessation conditions apply, and SLA says a strata unit in a non-landed mixed development generally needs no approval and that GLS sites and HDB shophouses are currently exempted.

Announcement and guidance, not an unconditional rule. The release's own words are "any foreign persons". The transitional provisions are claims 6 to 9: the option, retention, agreement and inheritance exemptions, each ending under paragraph 2(3) of S 512/2023. The property-specific exceptions are claims 18 to 20, all SLA guidance: strata units generally, GLS sites acquired by GLS tender, and HDB shophouses. The statutory basis is s 3(1)(c) and s 25(2) of the Act, which apply to residential property, and the step from the Schedule change to that status is interpretive (claim 3). For a housing developer the route is s 31(2), not s 25, subject to its own exemptions (claim 12). The SLA page is a living page, last updated 20 August 2025, and lists "Commercial & Residential properties" among the types requiring approval.

S 512/2023 exempts from s 3 and s 25(2) an acquisition on or after 20 July 2023 under an option granted before 20 July 2023, exercised not later than 9 August 2023 and not varied on or after 20 July 2023. The exemption ceases under paragraph 2(3) on the earlier of the date the foreign person obtains written permission to develop the land on an application submitted on or after 20 July 2023 and the date it develops, or permits development of, the land otherwise than under a written permission applied for before 20 July 2023.

STATUTE. No structured value: the digits are dates and section numbers. All three option conditions must hold, so an option granted before 20 July 2023 but exercised after 9 August 2023, or varied from 20 July 2023, is not exempted. The exercise deadline falls 20 days after commencement, a derived interval. SLA's guidance adds that there would be "strictly no extension" of the deadlines. The land is tested at the date of the acquisition. Paragraph 2(2) opens "Subject to sub-paragraph (3)"; claim 9 sets out that cessation.

S 512/2023 exempts from s 25(2) a foreign person who owned an estate or interest in Commercial and Residential land immediately before 20 July 2023 and wishes to retain it. The exemption ceases under paragraph 2(3) on the earlier of the date the foreign person obtains written permission to develop the land on an application submitted on or after 20 July 2023 and the date it develops, or permits development of, the land otherwise than under a written permission applied for before 20 July 2023.

STATUTE. No structured value: the digits are a date and section numbers. The retention limb names s 25(2) only; it does not name s 3 or s 31. The land must be zoned Commercial and Residential, or permitted (other than temporarily) for commercial and residential purposes consistent with that zoning, as at 20 July 2023. The release and the Q&As describe this as retaining the property as-is. Paragraph 2(1) opens "Subject to sub-paragraph (3)", so the exemption is not permanent; claim 9 sets out that cessation.

S 512/2023 also exempts an acquisition under any other sale agreement entered into before 20 July 2023, and an interest passing by will or intestacy, or to a legal personal representative, where the deceased died before 20 July 2023. The exemption ceases under paragraph 2(3) on the earlier of the date the foreign person obtains written permission to develop the land on an application submitted on or after 20 July 2023 and the date it develops, or permits development of, the land otherwise than under a written permission applied for before 20 July 2023.

STATUTE. No structured value: the digits are dates. The release of 19 July 2023 mentions only existing owners and options, not agreements or inheritance. SLA's Q&A 6 applies the agreement and option limbs to a tender launched before 20 July 2023. Paragraph 2(2) opens "Subject to sub-paragraph (3)"; claim 9 sets out that cessation.

Paragraph 2(3) of S 512/2023 governs both the retention exemption in paragraph 2(1) and every acquisition exemption in paragraph 2(2), and ends each on the earlier of two dates: the date the foreign person obtains written permission to develop the land on an application submitted on or after 20 July 2023, and the date it develops, or permits development of, the land otherwise than under a written permission applied for before 20 July 2023.

STATUTE. No structured value: the digits are dates. Two operative limbs, whichever date comes first. Limb (a) is obtaining a written permission whose application was submitted on or after 20 July 2023; limb (b) is developing the land, or permitting its development, other than under a written permission applied for before 20 July 2023. The scope was checked against the text, whose opening words are "The exemption in sub-paragraph (1) or (2)": it governs the retention exemption (claim 7) and the option, agreement and inheritance exemptions (claims 6 and 8) alike. The trigger is not redevelopment as such: a redevelopment under a written permission applied for before 20 July 2023 keeps the exemption. SLA's guidance, which is looser, says the exemption holds provided the owner does not redevelop, advises applying for approval under the Act before applying to URA, and treats a provisional permission on a pre-20 July 2023 application as keeping the exemption (question 20).

The land test in S 512/2023 is land zoned under the Master Plan as Commercial and Residential, or permitted to be used, other than for temporary use, under the Planning Act 1998 or other written law for commercial and residential purposes consistent with that zoning, tested as at 20 July 2023 for an existing owner and as at the date of the acquisition for an acquirer.

STATUTE. This is the land an exemption can reach; it does not decide whether a given transaction is exempted, which turns on the limbs in claims 6 to 8 and on claim 9. The words "permitted to be used (other than for temporary use)" follow N 7 paragraph 3 (claim 24). SLA's separate statement about Commercial-zoned property with a mixed permanent approved use is claim 11, and is kept apart because it is guidance and a classification, not this land test.

SLA says a property zoned Commercial whose permanent approved use is for commercial and residential purposes, consistent with land zoned Commercial and Residential, is considered restricted residential property under the Act, and a foreign person needs approval to acquire it.

Guidance only. Verified as what SLA says. It classifies by permanent approved use, which is distinct from zoning: the property stays zoned Commercial, and Commercial stays on the N 7 Schedule. It is also distinct from a transaction's exemption status: the Q&A does not say whether S 512/2023 exempts any owner or acquirer of such a property. SLA suggests checking the permanent approved use with URA.

Under the Act a housing developer, as s 31(18) defines one, does not apply under s 25 but must, unless an exemption reaches the purchase, apply to the Controller of Residential Property for approval before it purchases or acquires residential property, and the Controller may attach development, shareholding, security and sale conditions. Whether a given developer's purchase of Commercial and Residential land needs that approval depends on its status under s 31(18) and on any exemption that applies.

Statute, unchanged by this event. No structured value: the digits are section numbers. Its reach to Commercial and Residential land follows from that land becoming residential property (claim 3); no held document of July 2023 mentions s 31. The Act qualifies it: s 31(1) disapplies s 25 except as s 31(4) provides for retaining completed units, and s 32(1) lets the Minister exempt any person, class or land from all or any of the Act's provisions, which is how the company-specific exemptions recorded in other Batch 3B events work. S 512/2023 exempts grandfathered acquisitions from s 3 and s 25(2) but does not name s 31. SLA says GLS sites are exempted (claim 19, guidance). Under s 31(18) a housing developer is a non-citizen individual, a foreign company, limited liability partnership or society, or a Singapore company, limited liability partnership or society that has not complied with s 10(1), s 11(1) or s 16(1), which constructs or intends to construct flats or houses for sale. The category is not limited to foreign-incorporated companies. This archive assigns no developer an approval route and names no company as falling in or out of the category.

S 511/2023 also deleted General Industry, Light Industry, Warehouse and Light Rail Transit from the Schedule.

STATUTE. No structured value: the entries deleted are named. No held source says these deletions made industrial or warehouse land residential property. Para (e) of the Act's definition separately excludes land zoned for industrial purposes, and the release says only that the remaining changes align the list with URA's zoning terms. The canonical audit row recorded only the Commercial and Residential change.

S 511/2023 amended or replaced four other entries in the Schedule: it shortened item (11) from Park and Garden to Park and item (17) from Mass Rapid Transit to Rapid Transit, and it replaced item (16), Railway, with Reserve Site and item (21), Telecommunication, with Special Use.

STATUTE. No structured value: the count of four is read off the named amendments. These are replacements and amendments of entries in the RPA Schedule and rezone no land. Reserve Site is not another name for Railway, and Special Use is not another name for Telecommunication: each is a different zone placed in the vacated slot, and the release counts both among the uses added (claim 16).

SLA says there is no change to the regulation for a foreign person buying a strata unit in a non-landed mixed commercial and residential development, and that such a buyer is generally not required to obtain approval.

Guidance only. Verified as what SLA says. SLA's word is "generally", and it is kept: the Q&A does not say which units fall outside the general position. The provision behind the position is not transcribed for this event.

SLA says, in answer to a foreign housing developer asking about acquiring land zoned Commercial and Residential through a Government Land Sales tender, that GLS sites are currently exempted from the Act.

Guidance only. Verified as what SLA says. The answer is framed for a direct acquisition from the Government by GLS tender and says nothing about a later purchase of such a site from its first buyer. Currently speaks as at 20 July 2023. SLA cites no instrument. The Act's s 33(e) says nothing in the Act prohibits a foreign person's purchase by tender or otherwise from URA or a Government agent in the sale, but no held source says that is the basis of SLA's statement, and s 33(e) does not name s 31.

SLA says HDB shophouses zoned Commercial and Residential are currently exempted from the Act.

Guidance only. Verified as what SLA says, in answer to a foreign person intending to purchase an HDB shophouse zoned Commercial and Residential. Currently speaks as at 20 July 2023. The instrument creating the exemption is not held.

The Residential Property (Fees) Rules were amended by S 513/2023 with effect from 20 July 2023, the same day as the Schedule change.

Statute, content not held. No structured value: the digits are a Gazette number and a date. Nothing here says what the amendment changed, or that it relates to Commercial and Residential land beyond sharing the date.

Paragraph 3 of N 7 declares three classes of land to be non-residential property for the Act: under limb (a), any vacant land zoned in the Master Plan for a purpose in the Schedule; under limb (b), any land zoned in the Master Plan and permitted to be used, other than for temporary use, under the Planning Act or any other written law for a Schedule purpose; and under limb (c), any land permitted to be used, other than for temporary use, under the Planning Act or any other written law for a Schedule purpose.

Statute, unchanged by s 511/2023, which amended only the Schedule. The three limbs differ. Limb (a) turns on zoning alone and reaches only vacant land. Limb (b) needs both the zoning and a permitted use that is not temporary. Limb (c) turns on a non-temporary permitted use alone, whatever the zoning. This paragraph is why a zone's presence on the Schedule matters: the Schedule names the purposes, and paragraph 3 attaches the non-residential declaration to land that meets one of its limbs.

S 511/2023 was made under paragraph (h) of the definition of residential property in s 2(1) of the Act, which lets the Minister declare land non-residential by Gazette notification.

STATUTE. No structured value: the digits are section and Gazette numbers. Paragraph (h) lets the Minister declare land non-residential by notification; it does not itself say what land left off the list becomes.

S 512/2023 was made under s 32(1) of the Act, the Minister's power to exempt persons, classes and land from all or any of the Act's provisions.

STATUTE. No structured value: the digits are section and Gazette numbers. Section 32(1) allows an exemption permanently or for a period and subject to conditions; S 512/2023 uses it for a conditional exemption that ends under its paragraph 2(3) (claim 9).

S 511/2023 and S 512/2023 were both made on 14 July 2023 and came into operation on 20 July 2023, which the release timed at 0000 hours.

No structured value: the only digits are dates and a clock time. The time of day is the release's; the instruments state the date only. The Gazette publication date of either instrument is not in the held text.

The release announcing the change is dated 19 July 2023, the day before the requirement came into operation.

No structured value: a date, carried as the event's announcement date. The canonical audit row gave the same date from a search summary without opening the page; the page was opened for this draft on 27 September 2026. No held source shows the instruments public before 19 July 2023.

The release said land zoned, or developments permitted, for Commercial and Residential use are predominantly residential and would now be deemed residential property regulated under the Act, to better reflect its intent of safeguarding residential land for Singaporeans.

Verified as the Government's statement, not as a legal analysis. No held source says which paragraph of the Act's definition of residential property now catches such land: para (c) includes land zoned for residential purposes, para (e) excludes land zoned for commercial purposes, and para (h) covers land declared non-residential by notification. S 512/2023 presupposes the result by exempting existing holders from s 3 and s 25(2). The Act itself was not amended.