Additional Questions

Question 26:

I have a question regarding Question A3 of the Part B 2020 Exams. I wasn't sure what the answer
was to this - I could not find a clause in the SPA that I thought would address the brothers'
concerns. Some thoughts I had were: 1) Rule 11 of the Housing Developers (Project Account) Rules
that required the discharge of mortgages in respect of the purchaser's unit upon payment of
money due when TOP is granted - I'm not sure what clauses in the SPA say this though. or 2) the
fact that all payments were to be made into the Project Account of the Developer (Clause 5.9 of
the Form 5 SPA) - however, given that the developer can take out money for the construction of
the property, it seems to me that if they went bust, there might not be much money left in the
Project Account.

Ans:- Some relevant points would be:-

 The Housing Developers (Project Account) Rules require the developer to open a project
account. The said rules also regulate the use of monies in the account (see Rules 5 and 6)
 Requirement that purchase monies be paid to the Project Account (Clause 5.9 of the Sale
and Purchase Agreement)
 The letter of confirmation from More than Friendly Bank Limited (item (h)) which states the
terms and conditions for release of units in the development from the paramount mortgage.

Question 27:

a. If Completion date falls on a Saturday or Sunday, can I confirm that the actual Completion
date is actually on the Monday right after the Saturday or Sunday? [am just checking if I
have interpreted the Conditions of Sale 2020 correctly]. 
Ans:- Yes, assuming that Monday is a working day.

b. In the 2022 public holiday list (https://www.mom.gov.sg/employment-practices/public-

holidays), there are 4 public holidays which actually fall on a Sunday, and using labor day
as an example: 1 May 2022 is a Sunday, so MOM states that Monday 2 May 2022 is a
public holiday if your rest day falls on 1 May 2022. Does this mean that if the Completion
date in the contracts falls on 1 May 2022 (Sunday) or 2 May 2022 (Monday), the
Completion date will actually be 3 May 2022 (i.e. Tuesday)? 
Ans:- Yes, 3 May (Tue)
c. To pass REP, is it true that we must pass the first section AND the second section. I.e.
failing either section will result in a fail grade? 
Ans:- Yes
d. Can I confirm that there is no need to get permission from the Minister of law for a
foreigner to get a leasehold estate in restricted property for a term not exceeding 7 years?
(Is that the correct interpretation of S33(d) of the Residential Property Act?) 
Ans:- No need to get permission.
e. For a strata-landed property, does Form 4 (strata title) or Form 5 (landed) of the Housing
Developer’s Rules apply? 

Ans:- Form 5
f.  Willwe be tested on completion accounts for uncompleted property? If so, could we have
an example? The examples that we have tried in class all relate to completion accounts for
completed property

Ans:- No.

g. In the midcourse lecture, it was mentioned that if completion date is 7 Jan 2022, and the
annual value is $50,000 (owner occupied), then we must deduct property tax from 1 Jan
2022 to 7 Jan 2022 at $140 per month, in the Vendor’s Solicitors to Purchaser’s Solicitor’s
account, as the Seller does not pay tax for the full year. 
When you said deduct the prop tax from 1 Jan 2022 to 7 Jan, do you mean: 
$140 divided by 31 days (of January) x 7 days  OR  $140 divided by 31 days (of January)
x 6 days ?

Ans:- $140 divided by 31 days (of January) x 7 days since Vendor is liable for property tax
for 7 days (1 to 7 Jan).

h. It was mentioned during the midcourse lecture that if rent is paid from 7th of each month
to 6th of the next month, and if completion date is 11 Nov 2021, then we must deduct
rent from 12 Nov 2021 to 6 Dec 2021 at $3,000 per month. I understand that we must
find the rent for 19 days of Nov + 6 days of Dec. But I do not know how to find the rent for
1 day because the number of days in each month is different eg. November has 30 days,
whereas December has 31 days; so I do not know whether to divide $3,000 by 30 days or
31 days or 30.5 days [i.e. the average of 30 and 31] to find out what 1 day of rent is worth.
Could you show us the math?
- Cf In the typical situation where rent is paid from the start to the end of the month,
when we calculate rent: it would be [Monthly rent in $] divided by eg. 30 days in
November, then multiply by the number of days rent that must be refunded. ------ I’m
asking the question above because I do not know whether to divide by 30 or 31 days
where the rental period stretches between 2 months with different number of days.

Ans:-Read the section “F3. Proper Method of Calculation for Apportionment of Rental”
found in page 113 of “The Law Society’s Conveyancing Circulars, Practice Directions and
Rulings 2014”(which is part of the Reference Materials).

i. In the midcourse lecture: you mentioned that for the Vendor’s Solicitor to Vendor
Completion account, add the stake held sum if there is stake holding, and if there is no
stake holding, don’t add on because the seller has already taken it. Can I clarify what you
mean?

Ans:- The completion account from the Vendor’s Solicitor to the Vendor computes the
amount of balance sale proceeds that the Vendor expects to receive on completion. In a
case where the balance deposit was stakeheld, this stakeheld sum (being part of the sale
price payable to the Vendor) is released to the Vendor on completion.

In a case where the balance deposit was already paid to the Vendor on exercise of the
Option, there is no stakeheld sum. Thus, the Vendor does not receive this sum on
completion. There is thus no need to include this sum in the completion account from the
Vendor’s Solicitor to the Vendor.