Can I sublet part of my JTC premises?

Lessees and tenants: who may sublet

JTC expects lessees and tenants to use their premises fully for their own operations, so any subletting needs its approval first. A land lessee may apply to sublet space that is surplus in the short term, for example during a lull in business, and JTC decides each request case by case.

Tenants of JTC’s own developments are more restricted. A JTC tenant may sublet only to related businesses.

How much, to whom and for how long

A related business, in JTC’s definition, undertakes a business related to the lessee’s operations, and either the lessee owns more than 50% of its shares or it owns more than 50% of the lessee’s.

• Unrelated businesses: up to 30% of the overall GFA, for 3 years or the current tenancy or lease, whichever expires earlier.
• Related businesses: outside the 30% limit, within the current tenancy or lease, and still with JTC’s approval.
• Use: the subtenant must follow JTC’s usage guidelines and URA’s 60:40 space usage regulation. Subletting for office use only, or of open land, is not permitted.
• Renewal: JTC accepts a renewal application from 6 months before the sublet term expires.

Applying to JTC

Applications go through JTC’s Customer Service Portal, and the processing fee of $599.50 or $1,199 (including GST) is temporarily waived online. JTC asks for:

• The subtenant’s up-to-date ACRA business profile.
• Clearances from NEA’s Development Control and Licensing Department.
• Where relevant, an LTA land use proposal form for warehousing, SCDF approval where petroleum or flammable material above the allowed quantities will be stored, and approval from the National Authority (Chemical Weapons Convention) for chemicals on Jurong Island sites.
• A floor plan marking the area to be sublet, or any alterations.

Sublet fees and unauthorised subletting

JTC states the fee for the full sublet period in its consent letter, payable by GIRO. A late application may attract a higher fee, while subletting to related businesses, or anchor subletting, carries no fee if applied for on time.

Subletting without approval breaches the lease conditions and may lead to termination of the lease or higher sublet fees of up to the full assessed sublet rent. According to MTI, JTC detects it through regular inspections, feedback and whistleblowing reports, and data analytics.

Third-party facility providers and anchor tenants

A third-party facility provider either builds a facility and leases it to an industrialist, or buys an industrialist’s facility and leases it back. JTC lists eligible providers as REITs, investment funds or trusts holding the relevant MAS licences, developers with an established and credible development record judged over their last five years, and industry associations supported by EDB or Enterprise Singapore. Under both schemes the industrialist, as anchor tenant, must occupy at least 70% of the GFA; under Build-and-Lease it must also meet a minimum Termination Prohibition Period, which the page does not quantify.

• A replacement anchor must continue to occupy at least 70% of GFA. If there is more than one anchor, each must occupy at least 1,000 sqm.
• New anchors are assessed on the productivity of the space and on good-quality jobs and value-add.
• The remaining 30% may be sublet, subject to JTC’s assessment of usage compatibility and sublet fees.
• If an anchor’s GFA is to change by more than 20%, or its use changes, the provider must re-apply. The page gives no processing time for anchor applications.

What MTI said on 4 August 2026

In a written parliamentary reply, MTI said that about 37% of JTC’s land lessees applied between 2021 and 2025 to sublet space to other businesses, and that JTC approved 99% of the applications it received. The reply adds that subletting is capped and carries sublet fees to prevent profiteering. The figures describe past applications as a whole, not the outcome of any single case.