I feel the rental in SG is really an impediment on starting a business.
If I remember correctly, I encountered even more onerous terms : if the outstanding lease contract is forfeited, I hv to find another tenant or pay the full sum of the remaining lease or get sued. In a way, the landlord always gets the better end of the deal. Think selling drinks in coffeeshop has the highest "margin" with least effort(no need to prepare and cook dishes). Perhaps, that is one key reason why passive income from owning an investment property is so popular with Singaporeans.
Rental and labour are 2 main cost components in a business. However, property is not a productive asset like labour - the current environment of high property/land prices, constant asset enhancement for ever higher yields is benefiting the priviledged few rather increasing the pay of rank and file Singaporeans. Looking into the future, retrenchment / restructuring is going to be the new normal. PMETs are already expending effort and sacrificing personal time for constant upgrading vs the rich who buy shophouses for rental and earn passive income. As a Singaporean, I wld hope to see stricter immigration laws like in other 1st world countries - for a start, foreigner/PR to Singaporean worker ratio wld be good. This could lead to companies raising the wages to attract workers, while at the same time, lower the asking rents of landlords, instead of the current situation - high rent, low pay.
Although some may argue land in Singapore is limited, I am not sure whether it is efficiently used when we have empty condo units, empty shop spaces, shops selling the same things (e.g. multiple telco reseller shops in hdb heartlands). I think for the next stage of our country's growth, "free market" land/ property policies may not be the best way fwd.
Furthermore, in view of our consistent low birth rates, income inequality issues and the call for entrepreneurship / innovation / re-inventing ourselves, I hope there are some out-of-the-box considerations for our future economic policies.
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"....But with two years left on the lease contract, walking away is no simple proposition. "If you give up the unit, management will ask you to get another tenant and if cannot, you forfeit your deposit. On top of that, you might be sued for the remaining contract and you still need to reinstate the shop," he said...."
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/k...-challenge