Lease Agreements for Retail Premises Act 2023

PART 3

CODE OF CONDUCT

Code of Conduct

5.—(1) For the purposes of this Act, the Code of Conduct is the Code of Conduct for Leasing of Retail Premises in Singapore (first issued by the Fair Tenancy Pro Tem Committee on 26 March 2021 and subsequently modified by that Committee), as may be modified from time to time under subsection (3), setting out leasing and negotiating principles to ensure fair and balanced bargaining positions between landlords and tenants in the negotiation of qualifying leases.

(2) The Committee must publish the Code of Conduct in any manner that will secure adequate publicity of the Code of Conduct to landlords and tenants of retail premises.

(3) Where the Committee proposes to modify the Code of Conduct, the Committee must —

(a)

obtain the Minister’s approval for the modification; and

(b)

on obtaining the Minister’s approval, publish the Code of Conduct (as so modified) in accordance with subsection (2) at least 30 days before the Code of Conduct (as so modified) is to take effect, specifying —

(i)	the modifications so approved; and
(ii)	the date from and including which the Code of Conduct (as so modified) is to take effect.

(4) The Committee must also publish the following information in any manner that will secure its adequate publicity:

(a)	that the latest version of the Code of Conduct, and all other versions of the Code of Conduct having effect at any time in at least the preceding 5 years before the date of first publication of the latest version of the Code of Conduct, are available for inspection without charge at the premises of the secretariat, during the normal office hours of the secretariat;
(b)	if the Code of Conduct is available in any other way, the details of where or how it can be so accessed or obtained.

(5) To avoid doubt, nothing in this section requires the Code of Conduct or any modification thereto to be published in the Gazette.

(6) The Committee must maintain such versions of the Code of Conduct as are necessary for the purpose of an inspection mentioned in subsection (4)(a), and for the purpose of being accessed or obtained under subsection (4)(b).

Compliance with leasing principles in Code of Conduct

6.—(1) The landlord and the tenant of a qualifying lease must ensure that the lease agreement for that qualifying lease complies with the leasing principles in force at the time the lease agreement is signed by the landlord and the tenant.

(2) Where there is a permitted deviation in the lease agreement, the landlord must, if required by the leasing principle in question, submit to the Committee a declaration of permitted deviation for the permitted deviation.

(3) The declaration of permitted deviation must be —

(a)	submitted within the period prescribed by the Regulations; and
(b)	accompanied by any fee or charge prescribed by the Regulations or (if none is prescribed) specified by the Committee for the submission, payable to the secretariat.

(4) Where the landlord fails to comply with subsection (2) or (3) —

(a)	the permitted deviation is void (but not if the permitted deviation relates to a rental formula); and
(b)	if the leasing principle provides for any consequence in the event of the landlord’s failure, then that consequence may be enforced as if it were a term of the lease agreement.

(5) To avoid doubt, a leasing principle must not provide for any matter, including compensation, that is inconsistent with the requirements of any written law or rule of law, and subsection (1) does not apply in relation to a leasing principle that contravenes this subsection.

(6) Part 4 applies in relation to a qualifying lease, despite anything in the lease agreement.

7. The Committee must maintain —

(a)	a register of declarations of permitted deviations submitted to it under this Act; and
(b)	the record of a declaration of permitted deviation in the register for at least 5 years after the submission of the declaration of permitted deviation to the Committee.

Restrictions on disclosure of information concerning or contained in declarations of permitted deviations

8. The Committee and the secretariat must not disclose any information concerning or contained in a declaration of permitted deviation for any qualifying lease to any other person, except —

(a)

with the consent of the persons to whom the information relates;

(b)

to the extent the information has already been made available to the public at the time of its disclosure, other than information that is only in the public domain due to an unlawful disclosure;

(c)

to the extent the information is not disclosed in a form that could reasonably be expected to identify any particular person;

(d)

for the purpose of seeking legal advice;

(e)

to the extent that the disclosure is necessary for the purposes of, or in connection with —

(i)	any proceeding before a mediator or an adjudicator;
(ii)	the enforcement or disputing of any settlement agreement mentioned in section 23 or 24 or any determination of an adjudicator mentioned in section 14 or 25; or
(iii)	any proceeding before a court or an arbitral tribunal or any other dispute resolution proceeding;

(f)

to the extent the disclosure is required by an order of court, or required or authorised by or under any written law;

(g)

to the extent the disclosure is made in compliance with a request or requirement imposed by a public authority and is necessary to enable the public authority to perform its duties or discharge its functions;

(h)

to the extent the disclosure is made to assist a law enforcement agency in the investigation of any offence under any written law;

(i)

to the extent the information relates to the commission of any offence under any written law or was given in furtherance of any illegal purpose; or

(j)

to the extent that the disclosure is required or permitted for any purpose under this Act.

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