Land Revenue Collection Act 1940

In this Act —

“Authority” means the Singapore Land Authority established under the Singapore Land Authority Act 2001;

“Collector” means —

“land revenue” means every sum now due or which hereafter becomes due to the State on account of premium, rent, royalty, charges and fees of any kind chargeable in respect of land;

“proprietor” includes a lessee of State land.

Any person who, immediately before 1 June 2001, holds office as a Collector of Land Revenue or Deputy Collector of Land Revenue shall continue to hold such office as if he had been appointed under this Act until his appointment is revoked.

Notwithstanding anything repugnant in any title, every annual rent, subject to subsection (2), shall be due and payable on 1 January in any year, and any such rent if not sooner paid shall become an arrear on 1 April in the year in respect of which it is due, and any other form of land revenue shall become an arrear on the 15th day after service of notice substantially in the form in the First Schedule by the Collector on the person liable to pay it, demanding payment thereof.

Rent in respect of the year in which any land is alienated shall be calculated proportionately from the date of alienation to the end of the year and is payable on or before the date of alienation.

When land is held by co-proprietors they are jointly and severally liable to pay the rent reserved.

Every person liable to pay an arrear shall be a defaulter.

Upon any sum payable becoming an arrear the Collector shall, subject to subsection (2), use reasonable diligence in causing to be served on the proprietor of the land affected a notice of sale substantially in the form in the Second Schedule.

Such a notice shall be served in the manner prescribed in Part 3:Provided that —

Notwithstanding anything in this Act or in any rules made thereunder or in any other provision of law whatsoever, no failure to serve or irregularity in serving any notice of sale under this Act or any rules made thereunder shall invalidate any sale of land had under the provisions of this Act or give rise to any cause of action against the Government or any officer thereof by reason of the failure or irregularity, but any such failure or irregularity shall be considered by the Commissioner of Lands in dealing with any case of which he takes cognizance under section 19.

The Collector shall from time to time cause to be posted at his office and in such other place or places of public resort as he may in his discretion select a notice of sale substantially in the form in the Third Schedule specifying any land in respect of which an arrear is due and notifying that the land will be sold by auction for the recovery of the arrear together with fees due and costs at and on a specified place, time and date, such date being not less than 3 calendar months after the date of the first posting of the notice in each case.

Every notice of sale shall be published in the Gazette on a date not less than 4 weeks prior to the date of the sale.

The Collector may also, in his discretion, advertise in one or more newspapers any such sale, and any expenses incurred in so doing shall be included in the costs of the sale.

Subject to this section, any land so specified shall, at the place and time and on the day notified, or on any other day to which the Collector may postpone the sale, be put to public auction by or in the presence of the Collector at an upset price sufficient to cover the arrear due in respect thereof together with fees due and costs and shall be sold to the highest bidder.

The Collector may, if he sees fit, postpone any sale notified under section 6 and may in his discretion notify the date, time and place of any postponed sale in such manner as may to him seem fit.

In default of payment of the balance within the prescribed period, the deposit shall be forfeited to the State, the land shall be resold and the defaulting purchaser shall forfeit all claim to the land or to any part of the sum, if any, for which it may subsequently be sold.

When default is made in the payment of purchase money, a notification of the intended resale shall be published in the manner provided by section 6, and sections 6 to 13, inclusive, shall apply to the resale.

The purchaser at a sale held under this Act shall, when the sale has become final and conclusive, be deemed to have acquired the right offered for sale free from all encumbrances created over it and from all subordinate interests derived from it, except such as are expressly reserved by the Collector at the time of the auction.

Such acquisition shall be evidenced by a conveyance substantially in the form in the Fourth Schedule.

The Collector shall notify by advertisement in the Gazette substantially in the form in the Fifth Schedule the result of the auction, the conveyance (if any) to the purchaser of the right offered for sale, and the cancellation (if any) of the original grant or lease, and of all leases, encumbrances or other interests derived from that grant or lease, except such as were reserved by the Collector at the time of the auction.

In the event of such a conveyance, the Collector shall forthwith cause registration to be made under the Registration of Deeds Act 1988. Such registration shall be free of any fee or stamp duty.

Any person who knowingly and with fraudulent intent offers for sale, transfers or mortgages, or otherwise deals with any such lease, grant, encumbrance, right or interest, which has so become cancelled, shall be deemed to have attempted to commit or to have committed, as the case may be, the offence defined in section 415 of the Penal Code 1871.

Subject to section 7, if at any sale under this Act there is no bid sufficient to cover the amount due for the arrear together with fees and costs due the Collector shall record the fact in a book to be called the Rent Auction Sale Book, and upon such record being made the land shall revert to and vest in the State and all right, title and interest of the defaulter or any person claiming under him shall cease.

In the event of such reversion, the fact shall be advertised in the Gazette as provided in section 14(3).

The Collector shall also cause appropriate entries to be made in the registers kept under the Registration of Deeds Act 1988.

If any person interested in land in respect of which a notice of sale has been issued under section 6 disputes the propriety of that notice, he may apply to the General Division of the High Court to stay the proceedings, and the General Division of the High Court after hearing the Collector and making such inquiry as may be necessary shall make such order as it thinks fit.

The order of the General Division of the High Court shall be final.

The Commissioner of Lands may at any time before a sale under this Part has become final and conclusive upon proof to his satisfaction that the sale was had contrary to the provisions of this Part and that material irregularities occurred or that any proprietor or other person will suffer excessive hardship by reason of the sale, annul the sale by order in writing:Provided that no such order shall be made (or if made shall be cancelled) after the date of institution of proceedings in court for the annulment of the sale.

When a sale is annulled by the Commissioner under subsection (1) the purchase money or deposit paid by the purchaser shall be refunded by the Government with interest at the rate of 6% per annum and the purchaser shall have no further claim to compensation.

Notwithstanding anything in the Limitation Act 1959 no suit under section 20 for annulling a sale under this Act shall be maintained if it is instituted after the expiry of the period stated in that section except in the case of fraud to which the purchaser is proved to be a party:Provided that nothing in this subsection shall affect the title of any owner, mortgagee or lessee who has taken bona fide for valuable consideration from the purchaser, or of any persons claiming under that owner, mortgagee or lessee.

No suit for damages against the State or against any officer thereof in respect of any sale had under this Act shall be maintained if it is instituted after the expiry of 3 months after the date of the sale except in the case of actual fraud to which any officer of the State employed in or about the sale is proved to be a party or unless it is proved that the sum for the recovery of which the sale was had was not in fact an arrear at the date of the sale.

Subject to section 21, no sale had under this Act shall be annulled by the court nor shall any such sale give ground for any action for damages against the Government or any officer thereof except only upon the grounds of its having been made contrary to the provisions of this Act and then only upon proof that the plaintiff has sustained substantial injury by reason of the irregularity complained of, and no Collector selling land for the recovery of an arrear shall be deemed a trespasser nor shall the sale be deemed wrongful by reason of any such irregularity in the procedure but the defaulter shall be entitled to recover as special damages for the irregularity the difference between the price actually obtained and the price which, in the opinion of the court, would have been obtained at the Collector’s sale if there had been no irregularity and no more.

If any sale under this Act is annulled by the court, the purchase money or deposit paid by the purchaser shall be refunded by the Government with interest at the rate of 6% per annum, and the purchaser shall have no further claim for compensation.

Service of notices and other processes under the provisions of this Act or of any rules made thereunder may be effected on the person to whom they are addressed or are due to be delivered, hereinafter called the noticee, as follows:

When the serving officer delivers a copy of the notice to the noticee personally or to his attorney or agent he shall require as an acknowledgment of service endorsed on the original notice the signature or right thumb mark of the person to whom the copy is so delivered.

When —

When the Collector is satisfied that either —

When substituted service has been effected under subsection (1) the serving officer shall deliver the original notice to the Collector with an endorsement thereon declaring the time, date, place and manner of affixing or otherwise serving a copy or copies thereof and specifying the order by which such service was authorised.

Service substituted by written order of the Collector shall be as effectual as if it had been made on the noticee personally.

The Authority may make rules for fully and effectually carrying out and giving effect to the various purposes, provisions and powers in this Act, and in particular but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provision may make rules —

Rules made under this Act shall be published in the Gazette and shall come into force on the date of such publication or on such other date as may be specified therein and, subject to this Act, shall have effect as if enacted in this Act.

All such rules shall be presented to Parliament as soon as possible after such publication and if a resolution is passed pursuant to a motion notice whereof has been given for a sitting day not later than the first available sitting day of Parliament next after the expiry of 3 months from the date when the rules are so presented annulling the rules or any part thereof as from a specified date, the rules or such part thereof, as the case may be, shall thereupon become void as from that date but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder or to the making of new rules.

Subject to subsection (2), all costs and fees collected in connection with any proceedings instituted or any other matter under this Act or in connection with any service provided by the Collector under this Act shall be prescribed in rules made by the Authority with the approval of the Minister, and shall be paid into the funds of the Authority.

Subsection (1) shall not apply to any land revenue recovered under this Act, which shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund.