Land Acquisition Act 1966

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 provide for the acquisition of land for public and certain other specified purposes, the assessment of compensation to be made on account of such acquisition and for purposes connected therewith.

[17 June 1967]

PART 1

PRELIMINARY

Short title

1. This Act is the Land Acquisition Act 1966.

Interpretation

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

“assessor” means a member of the panel of assessors appointed under section 26(2);

“Board” means an Appeals Board constituted under section 19(1);

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

“Commissioner” means a Commissioner of Appeals or a Deputy Commissioner of Appeals, appointed under section 19(2), and includes an acting Commissioner of Appeals or acting Deputy Commissioner of Appeals;

“common property” and “lot” have the respective meanings given by the Land Titles (Strata) Act 1967;

“land” includes any airspace, subterranean space, foreshore, and benefits to arise out of land and things attached to the earth or permanently fastened to anything attached to the earth;

“management corporation”, in relation to any land comprised in a strata title plan, means the management corporation constituted in respect of that strata title plan under the Land Titles (Strata) Act 1967;

“non‑lot acquisition” means an acquisition under this Act of any common property (and no other land) comprised in a strata title plan;

“person interested” includes every person claiming an interest in compensation to be made on account of the acquisition of land under this Act, but does not include a tenant by the month or at will;

“remaining surface land” means any land (and airspace) above which only the airspace, or any land (and subsoil) below which only the subterranean space, is or has been acquired under this Act;

“severed land”, for an owner of land, means any land remaining after any other part of the owner’s land is severed because of an acquisition under this Act;

“State title” means any grant, any grant in fee simple or estate in perpetuity, or any State lease (of whatever tenure) whenever issued or granted by or on behalf of the Crown, the State or the East India Company;

“strata title plan” and “subsidiary proprietor” have the respective meanings given by the Land Titles (Strata) Act 1967;

“subterranean space” means the subsoil below the surface of the earth;

“temporarily occupied land” means any land temporary possession of which is or has been taken in accordance with a direction under section 42.

[17/2001; 19/2007; 26/2014; 12/2015]

(2) For the purposes of this Act, the following persons are deemed persons “entitled to act” as and to the extent provided:

(a)

trustees for other persons beneficially interested are deemed the persons entitled to act with reference to any such case, and that to the same extent as the persons beneficially interested could have acted if free from disability;

(b)

the management corporation for a strata title plan is deemed the person entitled to act for, and the person authorised to receive service within Singapore on behalf of, every subsidiary proprietor of every lot comprised in the strata title plan with reference only to any non‑lot acquisition relating to that strata title plan;

(c)

the guardian of a minor is deemed the person entitled to act, to the same extent as the minor could have acted if free from disability;

(d)

where an individual lacks capacity within the meaning of the Mental Capacity Act 2008, each of the following persons is deemed a person entitled to act, to the same extent as that individual could have acted if free from disability:

(A)	a donee of a lasting power of attorney which is granted by that individual under the Mental Capacity Act 2008, and under which that individual confers on the donee authority to make decisions in relation to that individual for the purposes of this Act;
(B)	a deputy who is appointed or deemed to be appointed for that individual by the court under the Mental Capacity Act 2008, and who is conferred power to make decisions in relation to that individual for the purposes of this Act:

Provided that —

(e)	no person is deemed “entitled to act” whose interest in the subject matter is shown to the satisfaction of the Collector, the Board, the Appellate Division of the High Court or the Court of Appeal to be adverse to the interest of the person interested for whom the firstmentioned person would otherwise be entitled to act;
(f)	in every such case the person interested may appear by a next friend, or, in default of his or her appearance by a next friend, the Collector, the Board, the Appellate Division of the High Court or the Court of Appeal (as the case may be) must appoint a guardian for the case to act on behalf of the person interested in the conduct thereof;
(g)	the provisions of the Rules of Court for the time being in force apply, with the necessary modifications, in the case of persons interested appearing before the Collector, the Board, the Appellate Division of the High Court or the Court of Appeal by a next friend, or by a guardian for the case, in proceedings under this Act; and
(h)	a person “entitled to act” is not competent to receive the compensation money payable to the person for whom the firstmentioned person is entitled to act, unless the firstmentioned person would have been competent to alienate the land and receive and give a good discharge for the purchase money on a voluntary sale. [19/2007; 21/2008; 26/2014; 16/2016; 40/2019]

(3) Despite subsection (2)(h) and sections 34 and 35 of the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act 2004, a management corporation for a strata title plan is deemed for the purposes of this Act, competent to receive the compensation money payable under this Act for any non‑lot acquisition relating to that strata title plan.

[26/2014]

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