What happens if JTC does not renew my lease?

When renewal is not granted

Renewal is not assured. JTC’s renewal page and handbook both make it subject to JTC’s assessment, and the handbook links the renewed term partly to ‘the Government’s long-term plans for the site’. If renewal is not granted, the lease ends on its expiry date and the site goes back to JTC.

JTC does not publish an appeal process for renewal decisions, or a process for a short-term extension. We searched JTC’s website on 20 September 2026 and found neither, and its renewal page, handbook and page on returning premises do not mention them.

Applications are due no later than 3 years before expiry, and JTC says it replies within 3 months of a complete application. On those published timings, a refusal on an on-time application still leaves time to plan.

The timeline to expiry

JTC’s page on returning premises, updated 14 November 2023, sets these milestones. The work behind them, such as appointing consultants and contractors, needs to start well before the inspection.

1. 1 year before expiry JTC emails a reminder that the lease is due to expire.
2. About 6 months before expiry JTC arranges a joint site inspection, then tells you the reinstatement requirements, taking into account the obligations in your lease.
3. By the expiry date Reinstatement, and any Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) required, must be complete, and the site is returned to JTC.
4. From the expiry date Double rent applies if reinstatement is unfinished or you are still on the premises.

What reinstatement involves

Your lease sets your reinstatement obligations, and JTC takes them into account when it sets its requirements. Under JTC’s published standard land-lease terms (April 2020 version), the lessee returns the property in ‘good and tenantable repair’, removes the buildings, structures and fixtures it installed and makes good any damage, unless JTC confirms in writing that this is not needed. JTC may also require decontamination works.

Leases granted on earlier terms may differ, so start with the reinstatement clause in your own lease. Where works are needed, JTC’s site return guideline (2020 edition) covers demolition, earthworks and levelling, turfing and an as-built survey supervised by a registered surveyor. The guideline makes handover conditional on satisfactory trial pit and laboratory test results.

If your business handled pollutive materials, JTC may also require an ESA before it takes the site back, and JTC’s ESA page describes exit assessments more widely, so ask JTC early whether one applies. That page says one typically takes about 4 months, including the time to engage an NEA-listed consultant, and longer if decontamination is required.

Relocation routes JTC publishes

JTC publishes no relocation scheme or priority for lessees whose renewal is not granted; we found none on its website on 20 September 2026. The routes below are open to industrialists generally.

• Ready-built space: JTC’s Find Space listings (updated 19 November 2025) include factory space and landed factories. MTI said on 3 March 2025 that JTC’s industrial spaces are typically let on 3-year tenancies.
• Landed factories: JTC’s application guide (updated 21 August 2025) describes three routes: a price tender; a launch, in which applicants compete on the strength of their business plans; and first come, first served.
• Industrial land: JTC’s Industrial Government Land Sales page (updated 19 November 2025) says sites are released by public tender, from a Confirmed List or a Reserve List.

FLEXI and assignment

FLEXI is a separate, published extension of 5 years that depends on JTC’s assessment and a commitment to new investment. JTC’s renewal page says a lessee may be eligible once 10 years of a lease of 30 years or more, or 5 years of a shorter lease, have passed; it does not say how FLEXI applies after a renewal has been declined, so do not treat it as a fallback.

Selling the lease is ruled out once fewer than 5 years remain: JTC’s transfer page, updated 4 August 2026, prohibits transfers and assignments at that point. With more time left, a transfer may be possible, subject to JTC’s own assessment and any Assignment Prohibition Period.