Source : Straits Times - 23 Jan 2009
FOUR government agencies are taking the lead in passing on savings from the property tax cut to their industrial and commercial tenants.
More than 36,000 businesses renting hawker stalls, factories, offices or land from the Housing Board, JTC Corporation, Singapore Land Authority (SLA) and the National Environment Agency (NEA) will get a 15 per cent rent rebate from Jan 1 to Dec 31 this year.
This year, some tenants will enjoy rebates ranging from about $150 to as much as $24,000, depending on the size of the property.
It will cost the four statutory boards a total of $311.6 million in lost rental revenue, but it is good news for Pasir Ris shoe-shop owner Jeffrey Kam.
Mr Kam, 43, was going to fire one of his five employees in a bid to keep a lid on costs, but he can now keep the worker and ’see how it goes’.
‘This means lower expenses, more discounts for customers and faster clearing of existing stock,’ said Mr Kam, who pays $4,000 in rent.
‘It will help cash flow. We are happier.’
Business at his shop at Loyang Point has fallen by about 30 per cent in the past six months. Revenue began decreasing right after he renewed his rental lease at 12.5 per cent higher than the year before, in August last year.
The rebates will benefit 7,700 JTC customers who rent land, factories and offices, another 5,300 stallholders who operate in NEA-managed markets or hawker centres, and 2,600 businesses that rent from the SLA, say the organisations.
According to the HDB, its rebates will go to 8,700 commercial and 12,000 industrial tenants and 360 industrial-land lessees. This translates into a rebate of between $31 and $960 per month for cooked-food stallholders. Market stallholders will get $12 to $467 off their rents per month.
Rebates for those renting from the HDB will range from $400 for a shop tenant to $300 for an industrial unit and up to $2,100 for an industrial-land lessee.
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