PROPERTY GURU. 2ND JULY: Under a circular issued by the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) Controller of Housing (COH), developers who are unable to meet their delivery date of possession can serve property buyers a notice for an extension of up to 122 days, effective from 1 July onwards, subject to certain qualifying conditions.
Developers with projects that have been hampered by construction delays can now seek for an extension of their delivery date of possession under their sale and purchase (S&P) agreements, reported The Business Times (BT).
Under a circular issued by the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) Controller of Housing (COH), developers who are unable to meet their delivery date of possession can serve property buyers a notice for an extension of up to 122 days, effective from 1 July onwards, subject to certain qualifying conditions.
With this, developers can extend the new property’s delivery date without being liable for liquidated damages due to late delivery up to the extended period.
Developers in need of more than 122 days extension will have to seek an assessor’s certification for such extension.
BT noted that the “relief measures (Part 8C) were passed by Parliament in November 2020 under the third set of amendments to the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act”.
“Further amendments were made to the Act on 5 April 2021, to enable the implementation and delivery of relief,” it said.
Property buyers who incur out-of-pocket costs because of the delay in the delivery of their unit – like having to secure alternative premises – can seek reimbursement from developers. In the event of damages, buyers can only claim up to 70% of the original liquidated damages payable.
“This approach allows for co-sharing of the delay costs between the developer and purchaser,” said the COH as quoted by BT.
For failure to meet the delivery date of possession under the S&P agreement, developers are generally liable to pay liquidated damages of 10% per year based on the amount paid by the property buyer.
The circular showed that those who bought flats from the Housing and Development Board (HDB) can also claim up to 70% of the liquidated damages.
BT said the issue has been previously highlighted by the Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore (REDAS), which noted that developers can be hit by penalties in the event of delays, which would eventually add to other costs they were already struggling with.
“COVID-19 has affected the construction industry severely and resulted in delay of completion for many projects. The government’s decision to implement Part 8C of COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act to address such an unexpected delay in a reasonable and amicable manner is appreciated and supported,” said REDAS as quoted by BT.
Affected by last year’s circuit breaker, the operating environment of contractors and developers saw further headwinds when Singapore shut its borders to South Asian countries to curb the spread of COVID-19, which led to a labour crunch. The flow of construction materials to the city-state was also hampered by the ongoing lockdown in Malaysia.
“Given the disrupted timelines, the government this week announced another six-month extension to the project completion period (PCP) for qualifying residential, commercial and industrial development projects,” said BT.
This will be in addition to the two six-month extensions announced by the government in May and October last year.
Moreover, the commencement and completion timelines for housing projects in relation to developers’ remission of Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) has been extended by another six months, bringing the total extension to 18 months.
However, the remission condition timeline for sale has not been extended, which means eligible developers will have to sell all their units within a five-and-a-half-year period, instead of five years. This comes as the government announced a six-month extension in May last year.