Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic reached a new level, businesses in Singapore has been having a tough time.
Just look at the malls in the Orchard area during peak hours.
Businesses are taking a hard hit from Covid-19, especially when there are fewer tourist arrivals and people are now staying home more to avoid infection.
The safe distancing measures don’t help either as it has reduced footfall within malls drastically.
Which is why the government is extending help to them via the landlords through the Resilience Package.
One of the measures within the package was the waiver of property tax for the year 2020.
And property owners like shopping malls are expected to pass on the savings to their tenants in the form of rental rebates.
Unfortunately, Not All Of Them Did So
According to a statement released by the Ministry of Finance (MOF), some of the landlords have passed on the rebate fully.
Some had even gone further and beyond to reduce it beyond the amount of the rebates.
Unfortunately, just as there are good tenants, there are bad ones as well who have not passed the rebates to their tenants.
Which Is Why MOF is Proposing The Following Legislation:
- That tenants receive the rightful amount of rebate according to the property tax rebate
- That the rebate is passed on in a “timely” manner (cannot be dragged out too late)
- Landlords are not allowed to set conditions on the passing on of rebate
- Allow a Valuation Review Panel to mediate in disputes between tenants and landlords.
The proposed regulations, if passed through parliament, will make not passing on the rebates an offence.
TL; DR: It can be an offence if landlords choose to keep all the rebates for themselves in the near future.
Singapore Taking Measures Seriously
When it comes to Covid-19, it’s no-holds-barred, at least when it comes to the government.
Implement safe distancing measures and no one’s listening? We’ll issue a fine or jail you if we catch you doing it.
Asking businesses to let employees work from home and they’re not doing it fast enough?
You can be issued with a Stop Work Order (SWO) if we catch you not doing it.
MOM said that they’ll increase the number of raids in the coming weeks and so far, MOM has issued 129 SWO and 260 Remedial Order (RO) to companies.
Previously, CapitaLand was called out for not passing on benefits and a minister came out to shame them.
You can do your part as a responsible citizen through helping out in contact tracing by downloading the TraceTogether app.
In the meantime, keep yourself updated by bookmarking MOH’s website here and registering for the Gov.sg’s WhatsApp service here.
