Real Estate

Changes to COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act: Re-align Framework, Additional Reliefs for Built Environment Sector, Fine-tuning Property Tax Rebate Regulations

Amendments to the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act ("Act") were passed in Parliament to supplement the temporary reliefs provided in the Act in the following key aspects:

1. introducing a new re-align framework for eligible businesses which are significantly affected by COVID-19 to renegotiate specified contracts;
2. introducing additional reliefs for the Built Environment sector in the forms of: (i) an extension of time to the completion date for eligible construction contracts; (ii) co-sharing of qualifying costs arising from COVID-19 related project delays for eligible construction contracts; and (iii) an avenue for property developers to seek an extension of date of delivery of possession of property and provision of the right for purchasers affected by COVID-19 related delay in delivery of their units; and
3. fine-tuning the application of the property tax rebate regulations to take into account the rental relief framework provided in Part 2A of the Act.

The Act was enacted in April 2020 to introduce a series of temporary legal reliefs and mechanisms for businesses and individuals to aid them in managing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. On 3 November 2020, the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) (Amendment No. 3) Bill ("Bill") providing changes to the Act was passed in Parliament. The changes have yet to come into force.

This Update highlights the salient features of the key changes to be introduced by the Bill and the issues addressed by these new measures.