Shorter Rental Leases for Private and HDB Properties to Accommodate Construction Delays due to COVID-19 Circuit Breaker Measures

6 Ms Sylvia Lim asked the Minister for National Development whether URA and HDB will permit rentals of residential premises that are shorter than three months for private property and six months for HDB flats, to provide accommodation for families displaced by construction work delays due to the COVID-19 circuit breaker measures.

The Minister for National Development (Mr Lawrence Wong): Mr Speaker, there is no change to the rules for the minimum rental period of six months for HDB flats and the minimum stay duration of three months for private residential properties. However, in view of the COVID-19 situation, HDB and URA have been exercising flexibility on a case-by-case basis for households who are in genuine difficulties and need temporary accommodation.

Mr Speaker: Ms Sylvia Lim.

Ms Sylvia Lim (Aljunied): Thank you, Speaker. I have three supplementary questions for the Minister for National Development.

The first question is, is the Government aware that there are residents who have contracted to sell their existing homes in the expectation of moving to their new homes by a certain timeline before the circuit breaker measures were announced? Some of these residents would, therefore, be impacted in the sense that if their new homes are not ready for them to move in by the designated time to leave their current homes, they would have to find alternative accommodation. That is the first question.

The second question is, I am glad the Minister has said that the authorities would be prepared to exercise flexibility in granting shorter term rentals. Would he be able to also assure Singaporeans that URA and HDB would aim to give timely replies to such applications, for example, say within a week, because time is of the essence in such cases?

Finally, Sir, on the issue of the cessation and soon-to-be phased resumption of construction works, I believe that BCA in May issued some guidelines about the phased resumption of construction including renovation works. According to the phases announced, works by individual households are placed in tier D, which I think is a tier that is termed "can be delayed". It is indicated that such works may only resume in August. Based on Minister's statements in press conferences, I would like him to confirm that even if the works are in a phase that BCA is not prioritising, if the contractors can show that they are able to comply with BCA's safety requirements, that BCA would consider such applications even if they are in the subsequent tiers for earlier resumption or commencement.

Mr Lawrence Wong: Mr Speaker, let me address the questions raised by Ms Lim one by one. On the first point, we are certainly aware that there are homeowners who are impacted by the circuit breaker, having made certain transactions with the hope of moving to their new flats and now finding that renovation works have been suspended because of the circuit breaker. That is why we have a series of different measures to help these families and homeowners. One, at the start of the circuit breaker, for very minor renovation works, we gave some exemption for some of these works to be completed as much as possible, so that the homes can be made safe and people can move in quickly. It was in the first few days of the circuit breaker that we provided for such an exemption.

But still, there are quite a number who could not complete the renovation works during that few days and then, these had to be suspended. For these cases, we have worked on a different set of measures. For example, number one is working to see if the transaction timelines can be pushed back; number two, checking to see if the homeowners who are impacted can move with relatives and friends; number three, working with serviced apartment operators, some of whom have agreed to offer subsidised rates for impacted homeowners and these can be offered to the homeowners who need temporary accommodations; number four, we looked at the worst case and for those who are really urgent and have difficulties, we offered interim rental flats.

So, there is a range of different measures that we are doing to help these people who are impacted. We will certainly remind the agencies to be prompt and responsive to some of these appeals when they show up. We will continue to do whatever we can to assist them.

On the third question on when the renovation works can resume, we are doing it in two steps. For the works that had already started but suspended because of the circuit breaker, we are actually going to allow that in Phase One. So, even in Phase One, so long as the firms are able to put in place the relevant safeguards and assure that the workers are safe, then for these renovation works for projects that had started earlier but were suspended because of the circuit breaker, we will accord some priority and let them resume first.

For new projects, we will defer or suggest to the homeowners and contractors who are embarking on new renovation projects, that these be pushed back later. So, settle the existing, on-going ones first. But as Ms Lim said, we have indeed made the commitment that if there are any contractors who will come forward and say, "I have the workers. They are safe. I have the measures in place and I would like to be prioritised ahead in Phase One", we will be prepared to consider such cases as well.