What is Rental Stamp Fee in Singapore Real Estate Rental?

What is Stamp Duty?

Stamp Duty is actually the fee payable by the tenant to the landlord. In Singapore, only when the tenancy agreement or the rental contract is Stamped by the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore or in short IRAS, it wibe considered as a valid contract or a legally binded document.

How much does Stamp Duty cost?

Many people do not know how to calculate stamp fee and would only rely on agent to quote the amount payable by the tenant. Agent would usually ask for a higher amount, this would one of the opportunity to make more money from the tenant. I would not call this cheating as it is a price quoted by the agent and the tenant being oblivion agrees to pay that amount.

Formula for calculation of Stamp Duty fee -

For one year tenancy agreement:

(Agreed monthly rental amount multiply by 12) divide by 250 (rounded up to the nearest dollar)

For two years tenancy agreement

2 X (Agreed monthly rental amount multiply by 12) divide by 250 (rounded up to the nearest dollar)

For more than three years tenancy agreement

3 X (Agreed monthly rental amount multiply by 12) divide by 250 (rounded up to the nearest dollar)

Conclusion

Stamp duty is one way to protect both parties (Tenant or Landlord) from future disputes in the event of any breach of tenancy agreement by any one of the parties. Stamp Duty fee is considered as a legal document that is admissible in Singapore's Court of Law during any civil or criminal proceedings. I would suggest both landlords and tenants read up more about this before entering into any agreement to understand more.