Lease Agreements for Retail Premises Act 2023

Sections (35)

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• § 1 — Short title and commencement

  1. This Act is the Lease Agreements for Retail Premises Act 2023 and comes into operation on a date that the Minister appoints by notification in the Gazette.

• § 10 — Authorised dispute resolution body, etc.

  10.—(1) The Minister may —(a) authorise any person to be an authorised dispute resolution body for the purposes of this Part, subject to any terms and conditions that the Minister thinks fit; and (b) withdraw any such authorisation. (2) An authorised dispute resolution body must —(a) maintain a pa

• § 11 — Reference of complaint of non-compliance to mediator

  11.—(1) On receipt of a complaint of non‑compliance, the authorised dispute resolution body must appoint a mediator from its panel of mediators —(a) to mediate between the parties; and (b) to assist the parties to settle the dispute or disputes that is or are the subject of the complaint, including

• § 12 — Reference of complaint of non-compliance to adjudicator

  12.—(1) If the mediation under section 11 does not result in a settlement agreement between the parties on a dispute, the party that filed the complaint of non‑compliance may apply to the authorised dispute resolution body for an adjudicator from its panel of adjudicators to be appointed to hear and

• § 13 — Stay of court proceedings

  13.—(1) Where there are any proceedings before a court in respect of any matter which is the subject of a complaint of non‑compliance, any party may apply to that court to stay the proceedings so far as the proceedings relate to that matter.(2) The court hearing the application may make an order, on

• § 14 — Fees of adjudication proceedings

  14. Where any provision in the schedule of fees mentioned in section 10(2)(e) requires a party (A) to pay any fees to the authorised dispute resolution body, an adjudicator may determine that another party (B) must pay to A an amount representing some or all of the fees, if the adjudicator is satisf

• § 15 — Protection from liability for mediators, adjudicators and authorised dispute resolution bodies

  15.—(1) No liability shall lie against a mediator or an adjudicator with respect to anything done or omitted to be done in good faith in the discharge or purported discharge of the mediator’s or adjudicator’s functions or duties under this Act.(2) No liability shall lie against an authorised dispute

• § 16 — Interpretation of this Division and application

  16.—(1) In this Division —“adjudication communication”, in relation to an adjudication, means —(a) anything said or done; (b) any document prepared; or (c) any information provided, for the purposes of or in the course of an adjudication, including a settlement agreement entered into in the cours

• § 17 — Restrictions on disclosure of mediation communication

  17.—(1) Subject to section 18, a person must not disclose any mediation communication to a third party to the mediation.(2) Without affecting subsection (1), where a complaint of non‑compliance that has been referred to a mediator under section 11 is then referred to an adjudicator under section 12,

• § 18 — Permitted disclosures of mediation communication

  18.—(1) Despite section 17(1) but subject to section 17(2), a person may disclose a mediation communication to a third party to the mediation if —(a) the disclosure is made with the consent of —(i) all the parties to the mediation; and (ii) for a mediation communication that is made by a person oth

• § 19 — Admissibility in evidence of mediation communication

  19. A mediation communication is not to be admitted in evidence in any court, arbitral or disciplinary proceedings except with the permission of a court or an arbitral tribunal under section 20.

• § 2 — General interpretation

  2.—(1) In this Act —“adjudicator” means an adjudicator on the panel of adjudicators; “applicant”, in relation to a complaint of non‑compliance, means the party that files the complaint with an authorised dispute resolution body; “authorised dispute resolution body” means an authorised dispute reso

• § 20 — Permission of court or arbitral tribunal for disclosure or admission in evidence of mediation communication

  20.—(1) A court or an arbitral tribunal may, on application by any person, grant permission for a mediation communication to be disclosed under section 18(2) or admitted in evidence under section 19.(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the court or arbitral tribunal (as the case may be) must take

• § 21 — Restrictions on disclosure of adjudication communication

  21.—(1) Subject to section 22, a person must not disclose any adjudication communication to a third party to the adjudication.(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to any part of a settlement agreement entered into in the course of an adjudication that takes effect as a variation of a lease agreement un

• § 22 — Permitted disclosures of adjudication communication

  22. Despite section 21(1), a person may disclose an adjudication communication to a third party to the adjudication —(a) if the disclosure is made with the consent of —(i) all the parties to the adjudication; and (ii) for an adjudication communication that is made by a person other than a party to

• § 23 — Settlement agreements in mediation

  23.—(1) The parties must set out their settlement of any dispute resulting from mediation, in a settlement agreement in writing.(2) Where, by any part of the settlement agreement, the parties have agreed to vary the lease agreement that was the subject of the mediation, that part of the settlement a

• § 24 — Settlement agreements in adjudication

  24.—(1) At any time before an adjudicator determines any dispute, the parties may settle the dispute, and set out their settlement in a settlement agreement in writing.(2) Where, by any part of the settlement agreement, the parties have agreed to vary the lease agreement that was the subject of the

• § 25 — Determinations in adjudication

  25.—(1) Subject to section 12(3) and to any rules and procedures established by the authorised dispute resolution body under section 10(2)(c) (being rules and procedures not inconsistent with any requirement under this Act), an adjudicator may —(a) conduct the adjudication proceedings in any manner

• § 26 — Enforcement of settlement agreements

  26.—(1) Any party to a settlement agreement mentioned in section 23 or 24 may, in relation to a dispute in respect of which the settlement agreement was entered into and for which no proceedings have been commenced in a court, with the consent of all the other parties to that settlement agreement, a

• § 27 — Enforcement of determinations by adjudicators

  27.—(1) Any determination of an adjudicator under section 14 or 25(4) (called in this section the adjudication determination) may, with the permission of the court within whose jurisdiction the subject matter of the dispute that is the subject of a complaint of non‑compliance to which the determinat

• § 28 — Effect on other proceedings

  28.—(1) Nothing in this Act prevents any party from challenging the party’s lease agreement (including as varied pursuant to this Act) as to whether or not the lease agreement complies with this Act, or any determination under section 25(4), in any proceeding before a court or an arbitral tribunal o

• § 29 — Act to bind Government

  29.—(1) This Act binds the Government.(2) Despite subsection (1), the Government is not required to comply with any obligation under this Act that is inconsistent with any obligation of the Government under any other written law. —(1) This Act binds the Government. (2) Despite subsection (1), the G

• § 3 — Appointment of Fair Tenancy Industry Committee

  3.—(1) The Minister may appoint a Fair Tenancy Industry Committee comprising —(a) a Chairperson; and (b) any other members that the Minister may determine. (2) The members must comprise —(a) individuals who in the Minister’s view represent the interests of landlords of retail premises; (b) indivi

• § 30 — Publication of non-compliance with Act or Code of Conduct

  30. The Committee may publish any details of non‑compliance with this Act or the Code of Conduct, obtained by the Committee under or pursuant to this Act, as the Committee thinks necessary or expedient in the interest of landlords and tenants of retail premises generally.

• § 31 — Amendment of Schedules

  31. The Minister may, by order in the Gazette, amend the First or Second Schedule.

• § 32 — General exemption

  32. The Minister may, by order in the Gazette, either permanently or for any period that the Minister thinks fit, exempt any person or premises or any class of persons or premises from all or any of the provisions of this Act, subject to any conditions specified in the order.

• § 33 — Rules of Court

  33.—(1) The Rules Committee constituted under section 80(3) of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1969 may make Rules of Court regulating the practice and procedure of the Court of Appeal, the Appellate and General Divisions of the High Court and the State Courts in respect of any matter under this

• § 34 — Regulations

  34.—(1) The Minister may make regulations as may be necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.(2) Without affecting subsection (1), the regulations may make provision in respect of —(a) the procedure and practice for a proceeding before a mediator or an a

• § 35 — Saving and transitional provisions

  35.—(1) Despite the definition of “qualifying lease” in section 2(1) read with section 2(5), this Act does not apply to an extension or a renewal of a lease (whether or not the extension or renewal is by virtue of the exercise of an option to extend or renew in the original lease) if —(a) the origin

• § 4 — Functions of Committee

  4.—(1) The Committee has the following functions:(a) to review and, with the Minister’s approval, modify the Code of Conduct from time to time; (b) to monitor and promote compliance by landlords and tenants with this Act and the Code of Conduct; (c) to establish the process for the submission to t

• § 5 — 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), se

• § 6 — 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 agreeme

• § 7 — Register of declarations of permitted deviations

  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.

• § 8 — 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 alr

• § 9 — Complaints of non-compliance

  9.—(1) A landlord or a tenant under a qualifying lease may file with an authorised dispute resolution body a complaint that there has been a non‑compliance with a leasing principle in relation to their lease agreement.(2) The complaint of non-compliance must —(a) be filed with an authorised dispute