Publication Type

Book Chapter

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

9-2020

Abstract

The COVID-19 epidemic has not spared any country, not least a densely populated country like Singapore. The government has been working tirelessly developing new policies and laws to mitigate the human and economic devastation brought on by the virus. The COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act 2020 (COTMA) is intended to tackle some of the negative effects brought about by COVID-19. With an initial application period of 6 months which can be amended at the Minister’s discretion, the COTMA covers a wide range of issues. Summarily, the COTMA provides for public health controls necessary to manage the health crisis, increases bankruptcy and insolvency thresholds to the advantage of debtors, allows company meetings and court hearings to be held virtually, relieves individuals from their obligations under certain types of contracts, provides rental relief to non-residential small-medium enterprises (SMEs), and requires property tax rebates granted to landlords to be passed on to non-residential tenants. Specific to protecting the interests of commercial tenants are two main thrusts – (a) temporary suspension of the landlord’s legal rights against tenants who do not pay rent and (b) direct rental relief provided by landlords.

Keywords

Courts, Singapore, COVID-19, pandemic, public health

Discipline

Asian Studies | Commercial Law | Public Health

Research Areas

Private Law

Publication

Law and COVID-19

Editor

Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez, Mark Findlay and Goh Yihan

First Page

21

Last Page

25

ISBN

9781467396172

Publisher

School of Law, Singapore Management University

City or Country

Singapore

Embargo Period

4-18-2021

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3686357

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