Two-week rental waiver framework passed in Parliament

THE Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) (Amendment No 4) Bill, which includes a rental waiver framework requiring private commercial landlords to provide two weeks of rental waiver, has been passed in a Parliament sitting on Tuesday.

The framework is being implemented to cushion the effects of tightened safe-management measures during Phase 2 (Heightened Alert), or P2HA, on qualified small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and non-profit organisations (NPOs), according to a Ministry of Law statement.

Under the bill, landlords who have provided rental support to their tenants during P2HA may offset from their rental waiver obligations any direct monetary assistance or rental waivers provided from May 16 up to the date they receive all the tenant's supporting documents.

However, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam noted during his speech in Parliament that it is not possible to account for all specific circumstances exhaustively within the legislation.

"Hence, the bill includes a provision to give the assessors greater flexibility and discretion to take into account exceptional circumstances of landlords," he noted.

To qualify for the waiver, the framework requires tenants to provide evidence that they have suffered at least a 20 per cent drop in average monthly revenue during both P2HA periods, among other criteria.

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However, in addressing questions raised by Members of Parliament, Mr Shanmugam explained that the evidence does not have to be in the form of a profit and loss statement, as the ministry recognised that some tenants may not have kept their accounts in that manner.

He said: "The law allows them to swear a statutory declaration that their businesses have gone down by the required amount and attach whatever evidence they have."

Mr Shanmugam added that the evidence must be "probative" and "helpful to come to that conclusion".

"If the landlord refuses to accept that, then it's a matter between landlord and tenant, and it can then go for assessment too," he said.

To ensure a wide array of tenants can benefit from the bill, Mr Shanmugam added that the ministry has made various resources to explain the scheme, including infographics which would be translated to other languages.

The ministry has also partnered agencies and industry associations to ensure that such resources are disseminated effectively.

"Webinars will be organised to explain the scheme to stakeholders and address queries," added Mr Shanmugam.

The bill's notice of rental waiver and declaration form will be distributed along with the second Rental Support Scheme (RSS) payout in October. 

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