On 23/05/2013,
you requested for the version in force on 23/05/2013
incorporating all amendments published on or before 23/05/2013.
The closest version currently available is that of 14/01/2011.
12. The principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately after section 25, the following sections:
25A.
—(1) Where the Minister has granted his approval under section 25 to any foreign person to purchase, acquire or retain any estate or interest in any residential property (other than non-restricted residential property) subject to the condition that the foreign person shall not sell, assign, transfer or otherwise dispose of that estate or interest in that residential property within the period specified by the Minister, the Minister may direct the Controller to lodge a caveat, on the relevant volume and folio of the land-register in the Land Titles Registry of the Authority, forbidding the registration under the Land Titles Act (Cap. 157) during that period of any dealing affecting that residential property against which the caveat is directed unless the Controller, or some person nominated by him in the caveat, has consented in writing to such registration.
(2) The Controller shall withdraw the caveat referred to in subsection (1) upon the expiry of the period specified by the Minister, unless the Minister directs that the caveat be withdrawn at any time earlier.
25B.
—(1) Where an approved purchaser, by lease or agreement, grants to another the right to occupy any residential property (other than non-restricted residential property) in contravention of any condition referred to in section 25(7)( a), the Controller may, by notice in writing, require the approved purchaser to pay, within a specified period, a financial penalty of such amount (as the Controller thinks fit) not exceeding the highest of one of the following amounts:
(a)
$10,000;
(b)
3 times the amount of rental payable and collected —
(i)
in any case where the lease or agreement was made before the date of commencement of section 12 of the Residential Property (Amendment) Act 2010 — during the period of contravention falling on or after that date; or
(ii)
in any other case — during the period of contravention; or
(c)
3 times the assessed rental reasonably expected to be collected for that residential property —
(i)
in any case where the lease or agreement was made before the date of commencement of section 12 of the Residential Property (Amendment) Act 2010 — during the period of contravention falling on or after that date; or
(ii)
in any other case — during the period of contravention.
(2) The quantum of the financial penalty referred to in subsection (1) shall take into account any security provided by the approved purchaser under section 25(7)(b) and which has been forfeited under section 25(7A) in respect of the same contravention of any condition referred to in section 25(7)(a).
(3) Where an approved purchaser is a company or a limited liability partnership, and the Controller is of the opinion that the failure of the approved purchaser to comply with any condition referred to in section 25(7)(a) was committed with the consent or connivance of, or was attributable to any neglect on the part of, any person who is a director of the company or a partner of the limited liability partnership, as the case may be, the Controller shall, together with the notice under subsection (1) to the approved purchaser, inform the person concerned of the Controller’s opinion, and that person shall then be jointly and severally liable with the company or limited liability partnership to pay the financial penalty imposed under subsection (1).
(4) Any financial penalty payable by any approved purchaser or other person under subsection (1) or (3) shall be recoverable by the Controller as a debt due to the Controller from that approved purchaser or other person.
(5) In this section, “assessed rental”, in relation to any residential property, means the market rental for that residential property as assessed by an independent valuer appointed by the Controller.
25C. Where —
(a)
the Minister grants his approval under section 25 for an approved purchaser to purchase, acquire or retain any estate or interest in any residential property (other than non-restricted residential property), subject to any condition; and
(b)
the approved purchaser fails to comply with any such condition, other than a condition referred to in section 25(7)(a),
the approved purchaser shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $200,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $2,000 for every day or part thereof during which the offence continues after conviction.”.