SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Dorothy Marie Ng, Monica Yip, Tay Peng Cheng and Tan Shao Tong, WongPartnership LLP
5.4 Minimum Capital Requirement There is no minimum capital required to set up a Singapore company. However, if a company intends to obtain a licence under the Housing Developers (Control and Licensing) Act 1965, it has to comply with the minimum paid-up capital requirements. 5.5 Applicable Governance Requirements A company will have a sole director or a board of directors. The company must have at least one director who is ordinarily resident in Singapore. The business of the company must be man - aged by the directors, or under their direction or supervision, and the directors may exercise all the powers of a company, except any power that the Companies Act 1967 or the constitution of the company requires the company to exercise in a general meeting. 5.6 Annual Entity Maintenance and Accounting Compliance Compliance costs will depend on the service provider(s) appointed. 6. Commercial Leases 6.1 Types of Arrangements Allowing the Use of Real Estate for a Limited Period of Time Other than ownership of real estate, arrange - ments for the occupation and use of real estate include leases and licences. The law also rec - ognises easements that grant limited rights (eg, right of way) and profit à prendre , which allows the right holder to take or use something on the land, such as the cutting down and removal of timber.
6.2 Types of Commercial Leases Commercial leases can generally be divided according to their use – eg, office, retail and industrial leases. 6.3 Regulation of Rents or Lease Terms The terms of a lease (including rent) are freely negotiable between the parties. However, a set of guidelines – namely the Code of Conduct for Leasing of Retail Premises (Code of Con - duct) – was proposed by the Fair Tenancy Pro Tem Committee (which comprises key repre - sentatives from landlord and tenant communi - ties, industry experts and academia) in 2021 to guide tenants and landlords of “qualifying retail premises” to ensure a fair and balanced posi - tion in negotiations of leases. Compliance with the Code of Conduct has been made manda - tory under legislation for retail lease agreements that are entered into on or after 1 February 2024. Please refer to 1.3 Proposals for Reform . 6.4 Typical Terms of a Lease There is no fixed duration for the length of a lease; it depends on the needs of the lessee and the agreement made between the lessor and lessee. The tenant is typically responsible for the upkeep of the property and is required to maintain and repair the real estate, preserving it in good con - dition. The tenant’s failure to comply with this covenant will constitute a breach of a term of the lease, for which the landlord will be entitled to enter the premises to carry out necessary works and to recover the costs of so doing from the tenant. Rent is typically payable monthly in advance. No significant changes in lease terms have been issued by major landlords to deal with future
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