Housing and Development Act 1959 - Singapore Statutes Online

Housing and Development
Act 1959

2020 REVISED EDITION

This revised edition incorporates all amendments up to and including 1 December 2021 and comes into operation on 31 December 2021

An Act to constitute a Housing and Development Board for Singapore.

[1 February 1960]

PART 1

PRELIMINARY

Short title

1. This Act is the Housing and Development Act 1959.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“authorised occupier” means a person who is —

(a)	named in an application made to the Board as the person who intends to reside in the flat, house or other living accommodation sold or to be sold by the Board under Part 4; or
(b)	authorised in writing by the Board to reside therein except that, where the person has entered, stayed or remained in Singapore in contravention of any provision of any written law relating to immigration, he or she is deemed not to be an authorised occupier from the date of contravention;

“Board” means the Housing and Development Board established under section 3;

“building” includes any house, flat, hut, shed, roofed enclosure or other accommodation, whether used for the purpose of human habitation or otherwise, and also any wall, fence, platform, staging gate, post, pillar, paling, frame hoarding, slip, dock, wharf, pier, jetty, landing-stage or bridge, or any structure or foundation connected to the foregoing;

“buildings or works” includes waste materials, refuse and other matters deposited on land, and reference to the erection or construction of buildings or works is to be construed accordingly;

“building operations” includes any building or erectional operations, rebuilding operations, structural alterations of or additions to buildings and other operations normally undertaken by a person carrying on business as a builder and the making of access roads, railways, waterworks, electrical installations and any road works preliminary or incidental to the erection of buildings;

“Central Provident Fund Board” means the Central Provident Fund Board constituted under section 3 of the Central Provident Fund Act 1953;

“Chairperson” means the Chairperson of the Board;

“Chief Executive Officer” means the Chief Executive Officer of the Board, and includes any individual acting in that capacity;

“Collector” has the meaning given by the Land Revenue Collection Act 1940;

“commercial property” means any flat, house or building or any part thereof which is permitted to be used pursuant to the Planning Act 1998 or any other written law for the purpose of carrying on any business or which is lawfully so used;

“common property” means so much of the developed land and all parts of the building as are not comprised in the flats in a building;

“developed land” means any land of the Board upon which a building has been erected;

“flat” means a horizontal stratum of any building or part thereof, whether the stratum or part is on one or more levels or is partially or wholly below the surface of the ground;

“Housing and Urban Development Company” means the Housing and Urban Development Company (Private) Limited incorporated in Singapore under the Companies Act 1967;

“Jurong Town Corporation” means the Jurong Town Corporation established by the Jurong Town Corporation Act 1968;

“lease” includes an agreement for a lease;

“Master Plan” has the meaning given by the Planning Act 1998;

“officer” means an officer of the Board;

“owner”, in relation to any property sold by the Board, includes a person who has purchased a leasehold interest in the property and also includes a purchaser under an agreement for a lease.

[13/2015; 5/2018]

(2) References in this Act to a flat, house or other living accommodation are to be construed to include references to the land appurtenant to the flat, house or other living accommodation.

(3) In any other written law and in any other document whatsoever, unless the context otherwise requires, any reference to the Singapore Improvement Trust is, except in respect of its planning functions, to be construed as a reference to the Board.

PART 2

ESTABLISHMENT, INCORPORATION AND
CONSTITUTION OF BOARD

Establishment and incorporation of Housing and Development Board

3. A body called the Housing and Development Board is established, which is a body corporate and has perpetual succession and may sue and be sued in its corporate name.

Common seal

4.—(1) The Board must have a common seal and that seal may from time to time be broken, changed, altered and made anew as the Board considers fit.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), all deeds, documents and other instruments requiring the seal of the Board must be sealed with the seal of the Board in the presence of the Chairperson, or the Deputy Chairperson, or a member of the Board, and an officer of the Board authorised by the Board in that behalf, who must sign every such deed, document or other instrument to which the seal is affixed, and the signing is sufficient evidence that the seal was duly and properly affixed and that it is the lawful seal of the Board.

(3) All deeds, documents and other instruments which relate to the sale, lease, assignment, mortgage or assurance whatsoever of any premises sold under the provisions of this Act may be sealed with the seal of the Board in the presence of any officer of the Board duly authorised by the Board to act in that behalf who must sign every such deed, document or other instrument to which the seal is affixed, and the signing is sufficient evidence that the seal was duly and properly affixed and that it is the lawful seal of the Board.

(4) Section 11 of the Registration of Deeds Act 1988 does not apply to any instrument purporting to have been executed under subsection (2) or (3).

Rules as to execution of documents

5. The Board may, with the approval of the Minister, make rules in regard to the execution of instruments of any description, the issue of any document and the signing of cheques and as to the proof of documents purporting to be executed, issued or signed by the Board or a member or an officer of the Board.

Constitution of Board

6.—(1) The Board consists of —

(a)	a Chairperson; and
(b)	at least 4 and not more than 14 other members,

each of whom must be appointed by the Minister subject to subsection (10) and on any conditions as the Minister may determine.

[35/2020]

(2) The Minister may, subject to subsection (10), appoint a member of the Board to be the Deputy Chairperson.

[35/2020]

(3) The Minister may, subject to subsection (10), appoint the Chief Executive Officer to be a member of the Board.

(4) Members of the Board hold office for the period, not being more than 3 years from the date of their respective appointments, that the Minister determines, and are eligible for re‑appointment on completion of that period.

(5) The Minister may appoint an individual to act temporarily as a member of the Board (other than the Chairperson or the Deputy Chairperson) during any period, or during all periods, when any member —

(a)	is incapacitated from illness or otherwise; or
(b)	is absent from duty or Singapore. [35/2020]

(6) The Minister may appoint a member of the Board to act temporarily as the Chairperson or the Deputy Chairperson during any period, or during all periods, when the Chairperson or the Deputy Chairperson, as the case may be —

(a)	is incapacitated from illness or otherwise; or
(b)	is absent from duty or Singapore. [35/2020]

(7) The Minister may, at any time, accept the resignation of any member of the Board appointed by the Minister.

(8) The Minister may, subject to subsection (10), at any time revoke the appointment of any member of the Board.

(9) On the death, bankruptcy, inability to act, resignation, absence from Singapore for more than 3 months or revocation of the appointment of any member of the Board, the Minister may, subject to subsection (10), appoint a new member who is to hold office for so long as the member in whose place he or she is appointed would have held office.

(10) No appointment under this section and no revocation of any such appointment may be made without the President’s concurrence under Article 22A(1)(b) of the Constitution.

(11) The Chairperson may, by instrument in writing, authorise any member of the Board to exercise any power or perform any function, other than the functions referred to in section 4(2), conferred on the Chairperson by or under this Act.

Disqualification from membership and vacation of office

7.—(1) A person is not eligible to be appointed or to remain a member of the Board if the person —

(a)	is an undischarged bankrupt;
(b)	has been convicted of an offence by a court of law in Singapore and sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than 6 months and has not received a free pardon; or
(c)	has a mental disorder and is incapable of managing himself or herself or his or her affairs. [21/2008]

(2) The office of a member of the Board becomes vacant —

(a)	on the death of the member;
(b)	if the member, without sufficient cause acceptable to the Minister, fails to attend 3 consecutive meetings of the Board;
(c)	if the member becomes subject to any of the disqualifications specified in subsection (1); or
(d)	if the member resigns his or her office.

Salaries, fees, etc., payable to members of Board

8. There are to be paid to members of the Board, out of the funds of the Board, such salaries, fees and allowances or expenses as the Minister may from time to time determine.

Quorum

9.—(1) The quorum at all meetings of the Board is one‑third of the total number of members in office, of whom one must be the Chairperson or the Deputy Chairperson, and, in the Chairperson’s absence, the Deputy Chairperson presides at its meetings.

[29/2005; 35/2020]

(2) A decision of the majority of the members of the Board present and voting at a meeting of the Board is deemed to be a decision of the Board.

(3) In the event of the votes on any question being equal, the member presiding has a casting vote in addition to his or her original vote.

[10

Vacancies

10. The Board may, subject to section 9(1), act despite any vacancy in its membership.

[11

Proceedings of Board

11.—(1) The Chairperson or other officers authorised by him or her must, subject to such standing orders as the Board may make under subsection (2), summon all meetings of the Board for the despatch of business.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this Act and the Public Sector (Governance) Act 2018, the Board may make standing orders to regulate its own procedure and, in particular, the holding of meetings, the notice to be given of its meetings, the proceedings at its meetings, the keeping of minutes and the custody, production and inspection of the minutes.

[12

[5/2018]

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