Does the landlord ever pay for reinstatement?

Yes, the landlord covers fair wear and tear, natural ageing, and structural or base-building items. If a tenancy agreement has no reinstatement clause, or works go beyond restoring move-in condition (an upgrade), those costs are not the tenant's to bear.

Can a landlord deduct reinstatement from the security deposit?

Yes, a landlord can deduct genuine reinstatement and make-good costs from the security deposit if the tenant fails to restore the unit as the lease requires. The deduction should be itemised and reasonable, and cannot include fair wear and tear or betterment (charging for brand-new replacements of old items).

Who pays for office reinstatement in Singapore?

For commercial space, the tenant pays for office reinstatement (make-good), which is standard in Singapore commercial leases. The tenant strips the fit-out back to the required handover condition; the landlord covers only fair wear and tear and base-building elements.

Deposit Guide

Who Pays for Reinstatement in Singapore, Tenant or Landlord?

By Mr Kobayashi, Operations Lead, REINSTATE.by MCSG · Updated 24 June 2026 · 6 min read

The tenant normally pays for reinstatement when the tenancy agreement contains a reinstatement clause, restoring the unit to its move-in condition, minus fair wear and tear. The landlord stays responsible for ordinary ageing, fair wear and tear, and the base-building elements they provided.

It's the first question on every handover: whose bill is the reinstatement? In Singapore the answer is set by your tenancy agreement, not by guesswork, and knowing exactly where the responsibility sits is how you avoid a deposit fight. Here's the breakdown.

The default: the tenant pays

Almost every Singapore tenancy agreement contains a reinstatement clause making the tenant responsible for returning the property to its handover condition at the end of the lease. That covers removing tenant additions, patching and repainting, and making good, but not the natural ageing the landlord absorbs.

This is the same principle that defines rental reinstatement itself: restore to move-in condition, minus fair wear and tear.

What each side pays

Tenant pays	Landlord pays
Removing tenant fixtures, shelving, partitions	Fair wear and tear / natural ageing
Repainting after a colour change or heavy marks	Paint that simply faded over a long tenancy
Patching nail holes & making good damage	Structural and base-building elements
Repairing damage from misuse or neglect	Items that aged out naturally (worn seals, old tap)
Cleaning & handover prep (if the lease requires)	Upgrades / "betterment" beyond move-in condition

When the landlord pays (the exceptions)

No reinstatement clause. If the tenancy agreement doesn't require it, the tenant isn't obliged to reinstate beyond returning the unit reasonably.
Fair wear and tear. The landlord cannot charge the tenant for normal deterioration, see the fair wear and tear guide.
Betterment. A landlord can't use reinstatement to upgrade the unit at the tenant's expense, charging full new-paint or new-floor costs for old, worn surfaces.
Pre-existing defects. Anything documented as already there at move-in is not the tenant's to fix.

Reinstatement and the security deposit

A landlord can deduct genuine reinstatement costs from the security deposit if the tenant doesn't make good as the lease requires, but the deduction must be itemised, reasonable, and exclude fair wear and tear and betterment.

This is exactly where most disputes start. A photo-backed move-in inventory is the single best protection for tenants, and the cleanest evidence for agents managing the handover.

What about office and commercial?

The same default applies, only larger: for commercial space the tenant pays for office reinstatement (make-good) under the lease's make-good clause, stripping the fit-out back to the required condition. The landlord covers only fair wear and tear and base-building.

How to avoid a "who pays" dispute

Read the reinstatement clause at signing, know the standard you'll be held to.
Photograph the unit at move-in, dated and room by room.
Quote make-good against the inventory, not a blanket "make it new".
Get any deduction itemised in writing so fair wear and tear isn't smuggled in.

Disagreeing over who pays for reinstatement?

Send us your lease and the unit, we'll separate genuine tenant make-good from landlord wear and tear, quote only what's really owed, and manage the works to a clean handover and full deposit return.

WhatsApp us for a quote →

Responsibility for reinstatement in Singapore is governed by the tenancy agreement and common-law fair-wear-and-tear principles; there is no specific statute. Always confirm against your own lease clause and itemised quotes.

References & further reading

Authoritative Singapore sources for further reading. This guide is general information, not legal advice, confirm current rules with the relevant authority.