FAQs for Notification for Relief

Notification for Relief

1. I am seeking waiver of rent for SMEs that has been announced by the Government. Must I serve a Notification for Relief?

• No. Tenant occupiers, seeking rental waivers under the rental relief framework, do not have to serve a Notification for Relief on their landlord.

• Under the rental relief framework, eligible Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and specified Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) which are tenant-occupiers who operate their business in a rented property (including sub-tenants, licensees and sub-licensees) can receive up to 4 months waiver of rent for qualifying commercial properties (e.g. shops) and up to 2 months waiver of rent for other non-residential properties (e.g. industrial and office properties).

• The Amendment Act also provides for an automatic moratorium on enforcement actions against tenant occupiers for non-payment of rent under the lease or licence agreement. The moratorium has taken effect on 31 July 2020 and will end on the date a notice of cash grant is issued by IRAS to the property owner or 31 December 2020, whichever is earlier.

• For more information on the rental relief framework, please click here.

I am the party seeking relief and sender of the Notification for Relief…

2. Is there a deadline to serve a Notification for Relief on the other party to the contract?

• Yes. A Notification for Relief must be served on the other party to the contract within the prescribed period.
• The Ministry of Law intends to extend the prescrbed period, which currently lasts until 19 October 2020. The deadlines to serve a Notifcation for Relief would be as follows after the prescribed period is extended:

3. Must a Notification for Relief take a certain form?

• Yes, there is a prescribed form for the Notification for Relief. Please refer to the form at this link (SingPass) (if you are serving the Notification for yourself) or this link (CorpPass) (if you are serving the Notification on behalf of your business or company).
• If you do not serve the Notification for Relief in the prescribed form, it is invalid for the purposes of the Act.

4. There are multiple parties to my contract. Do I need to fill up multiple Notifications of Relief to serve on each of the parties?

• No. Only one Notification for Relief should be filled up. In Part B of the form, you should indicate the particulars of all the parties to the contract. A copy of the same Notification for Relief should be served on each of the parties.

5. I do not know the email address of all the other parties to the contract. How do I serve the Notification for Relief?

• If you have the email address of all the relevant parties the Notification for Relief should be served on, please serve the Notification for Relief:
  • Using link (SingPass) if you are serving the Notification for yourself.
  • Using link (CorpPass) if you are serving the Notification on behalf of a business or company
• Only if you do not have or cannot obtain the other party’s email address but have previously communicated with the party by an internet-based messaging system (e.g. WhatsApp) or the messaging system on the website, blog or social media website owned or operated by the other party, you may download the hard-copy Notification for Relief and serve it on the other party via that messaging system.
  • If you are serving the Notification for Relief for yourself, please download this form.
  • If you are serving the Notification on behalf of a business or company), please download this form.
• Only if you are unable to serve by the modes above, you may download the Notification for Relief and send to the other party by prepaid registered post.
  • If you are serving the Notification for Relief for yourself, please download this form.
  • If you are serving the Notification on behalf of a business or company), please download this form.

6. I do not have Singpass or Corpass and cannot access the Ministry of Law’s electronic system for the purposes of filling up and serving a Notification for Relief. How can I fill up and serve a Notification for Relief?

• If you are serving the Notification for Relief for yourself, please download this form.
• If you are serving the Notification on behalf of a business or company, please download this form.
• After you fill up the form, you would have to serve the form on all other parties to the contract, any guarantor or surety of the obligation and the issuer of a related performance bond (if applicable). Please refer to this link in relation to serving that hard-copy form.

7. I am a guarantor of Party A’s obligation under a scheduled contract. Party A is unable to fulfill his obligations due to COVID-19. Can I serve a Notification for Relief on the other party?

• If you are a guarantor but you are not a party to the scheduled contract, you may not serve the Notification for Relief.
• Under the Act, only a party to a scheduled contract may serve a Notification for Relief for his inability to perform the obligations under the scheduled contract.
• If, however, Party A serves the Notification for Relief on the other party, provided the other conditions in the Act are satisfied, the other party will be prohibited from commencing court or insolvency proceedings against you as the guarantor.

8. I filled up the Notification for Relief with the wrong details and submitted it using the Ministry of Law’s electronic system. What do I do now?

• Please note that the electronic system does not have the function to allow an amendment to the Notification for Relief that was submitted.
• If you did not successfully serve the Notification for Relief on the Recipient(s) (e.g. you entered an incorrect email address for any of the Recipient), you should serve a new Notification for Relief on the Recipient(s).
• If you successfully served the Notification for Relief on the Recipient(s), and you wish to make changes to the form, you will need to serve a new Notification for Relief and serve a Notice of Withdrawal in respect of the previous Notification for Relief.

9. I served a Notification for Relief (either using the online system, or by downloading and sending the hard-copy form to the other party to the contract). Do I need to file the Notification for Relief with the Ministry of Law? Does the Ministry of Law need to “approve” my Notification for Relief before it is valid?

• The Ministry of Law does not need to further “approve” a Notification for Relief that was served. There is no need to file a copy of the Notification for Relief with the Ministry of Law.

10. I served a Notification for Relief using the online system on the Ministry of Law’s website. I did not hear from the other party to the contract. How do I know if the other party received the Notification for Relief? What do I do next?

• You may wish to reach out to the other party to ensure that he received the Notification for Relief.
• Thereafter, we encourage you to engage the other party to reach a mutually acceptable solution. Both sides must be fair and reasonable.
• If parties cannot agree, the Act provides for either party to make an application for an Assessor’s determination and for the Assessor to achieve an outcome that is just and equitable in the circumstances. Please refer to this link for more information on the application process.

11. I served the Notification for Relief, and I filed the Application for an Assessor’s Determination. Since then, the other party and I have reached a mutually acceptable solution without having to go through the proceedings before the Assessor. What do I do now?

• If the agreement you have reached with the other party involves you withdrawing the Notification for Relief, you should serve a Notice of Withdrawal in respect of the previous Notification for Relief.
• For the pending Application, you should inform the Registrar of the settlement and that you wish to withdraw the Application. You may do so by writing to the Registry’s email address from which the acknowledgment of receipt of the Application was sent.

I am the receiver of a Notification for Relief…

12. The party seeking relief indicated a “proposal” in Part D of the Notification for Relief. Is that proposal binding?

• No. It is merely a proposal from the party seeking relief for the other party’s consideration. We encourage you to use the proposal as a basis to start negotiations.

13. I was served a Notification for Relief. I disagree with my counterparty’s proposal in Part D of the Notification for Relief. What do I do next? Must I serve a Notification for Relief as well?

• We encourage you to reach out to your counterparty, negotiate and come to a mutually agreeable solution.
• There is no need for you to serve a Notification for Relief on your counterparty as well.

14. I am not a party to the contract, but was erroneously served a Notification for Relief. What do I do next?

• If it is a mistake, you may contact the sender of the Notification for Relief to inform him about the error, or ignore the erroneous Notification for Relief.
• If it appears that the sender had sent you the Notification for Relief because he believes you are a party to the contract (when you are not a party to the contract), you may dispute the Notification for Relief by making an application to the Assessor using this link.

15. I was served a Notification for Relief even though my contract with the party seeking relief does not fall within the Act. What do I do next?

• Even though the Notification for Relief was served in error, this indicates that your counterparty has difficulties meeting his contractual obligations to you under your contract. We encourage you to reach out to your counterparty to inform him that the contract does not fall within the Act and to reach a mutually acceptable solution to deal with any contractual issues that have been caused by COVID-19.
• If you are unable to reach an agreement with the counterparty and you wish to dispute the Notification for Relief, you may make an application to the Assessor by following the steps in this link. The Assessor will determine whether relief under the Act applies.

16. I was served multiple Notification for Reliefs by the same party, all with slightly different details. What do I do next?

• You may wish to reach out to the sender of the Notification for Relief to clarify which document he wishes to rely on.

17. I was served the Notification for Relief and I filed an Application for an Assessor’s Determination. Since then, the other party and I have reached a mutually acceptable solution without having to go through the proceedings before the Assessor. What should I do now?

• For the pending Application, you should inform the Registrar of the settlement and that you wish to withdraw the Application. You may do so by writing to the Registry’s email address from which the acknowledgment of receipt of the Application was sent to you.