Covenant – Singapore property for rent/ sale
A covenant is a “promise” agreement between two parties (the covenantee – the person benefiting from the promise and the covenantor – the person giving the promise) created in a deed. A covenant can be either positive or negative. A positive covenant is a promise to do something or to spend money. Common examples include a covenant to build and maintain a fence or to contribute to the maintenance of a shared driveway. Singapore property for rent/ sale.
A negative covenant, also referred to as a restrictive covenant, is a promise not to do something such as not to build a fence or not to use the property for business purposes. Servient land refers to the land that is subjected to the burden of a restriction while the dominant land refers to the land which benefits from the restriction.
The important issue in a covenant is whether subsequent owners will be bound by the covenants. Unlike ‘negative’ or ‘restrictive’ covenants, the burden of a positive covenant usually does not ‘run with the land’ and so the promise cannot be enforced against subsequent owners or occupiers.
The Land Titles Act provides for a restrictive covenant to run with the land as a negative covenant. To ‘run with the land’ means that the restrictive covenant remains attached to the land despite subsequent changes in its ownership. In order for a restrictive covenant to run with the land, it should satisfy the following conditions:
- An instrument in the approved form must be filed and the Registrar shall enter a notification of the restriction on the folio of the land affected. The instrument must indicate clearly the dominant land and servient land.
- The restrictive covenant must be negative in nature. A simple test to determine whether a covenant is positive is to ask whether its performance requires the expenditure of money. If it does, it is likely positive in nature.
- The restrictive covenant must relate to the direct use of the servient land e.g. not to build more than 3 storey high.
- It is intended by the original parties for the restrictive covenant to run with the land.
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