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RES Exam Glossary: Terms You Need to Know

Last reviewed 12 October 2026

A large share of RES questions turn on the precise meaning of a term, and on the distinction between two terms that sound similar — a lease and a licence, a joint tenancy and a tenancy in common, an easement and a restrictive covenant. This glossary covers the vocabulary used across all four competency units, in plain English. Where a term carries a figure that changes, the figure is left to the unit guides, which date it.

How to use this glossary

Work through it in pairs rather than in isolation. The examination rarely asks what a term means on its own; it asks you to pick the right one of four related terms for a situation, so the useful knowledge is the difference between them. Read the entries for joint tenancy, tenancy in common, severance and survivorship together, and the entries for lease, licence and tenancy together, and you will recognise how the questions are built.

Two things this glossary deliberately does not do. It does not carry rates, ceilings or thresholds, because those change and belong in a dated guide rather than a definition. And it does not replace the syllabus: CEA’s syllabus document sets out the learning outcomes you are examined against, and this list is a companion to it.

Terms to know

Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD): A stamp duty charged on the purchase of residential property in addition to Buyer’s Stamp Duty, with the rate depending on the buyer’s profile, such as citizenship or residency status and the number of residential properties already owned. It is payable by the buyer.
Agency: The relationship in which one person, the agent, is authorised to act for another, the principal, in dealings with third parties. It can arise by express or implied appointment, by ratification, or by operation of law, and it does not require a written agreement to exist.
Approved Course Provider (ACP): An organisation approved by CEA to conduct the RES course; only a Certificate of RES Course Completion from an ACP is accepted for examination registration.
Beneficiary: The person entitled to the benefit of property held under a trust, or the person named in a will to receive part of an estate. A beneficiary holds an equitable, not a legal, interest in trust property.
Buyer’s Stamp Duty (BSD): The stamp duty payable by the buyer on the acquisition of property, calculated on the higher of the purchase price or the market value, on a tiered scale with separate scales for residential and non-residential property.
Caveat: A notice lodged with the Singapore Land Authority to record a claim to an interest in registered land, which warns anyone dealing with the land of that claim. A caveat lapses five years after lodgment unless renewed, and where a lapsing notice is served the caveator has 30 days to obtain a court order extending it.
Caveat emptor: “Let the buyer beware” — the principle that a buyer of completed property takes it as it is and must satisfy itself as to the state and quality of what it is buying, subject to the seller’s duty not to misrepresent and to disclose latent defects in title.
Co-broking: An arrangement in which the salesperson representing one party works with the salesperson representing the other to close a transaction and the commission is shared. The co-broking terms must be confirmed in writing between the estate agents or salespersons before the transaction closes.
Code of Ethics and Professional Client Care: The code made under the Estate Agents Act setting out the standards expected of estate agents and salespersons, including acting in the client’s best interest, communicating all offers promptly, avoiding conflicts of interest and advertising honestly.
Collective sale: The sale of all the units and common property in a strata development to a single purchaser, usually for redevelopment, under the Land Titles (Strata) Act regime, which allows a qualifying majority of subsidiary proprietors to bind the minority. Also called an en bloc sale.
Common property: In a strata development, the parts of the land and building not comprised in any individual lot, held for the benefit of all subsidiary proprietors and managed by the management corporation.
Consideration: Something of value given by each party to a contract, which the law requires before a simple contract is enforceable. A promise made without consideration is generally unenforceable unless it is made by deed.
Conveyance: The transfer of an interest in land from one person to another, and the process by which it is carried out. A conveyance inter vivos is one made between living persons, as opposed to a transfer on death.
Council for Estate Agencies (CEA): The statutory body established under the Estate Agents Act 2010 that licenses estate agents, registers salespersons, sets professional standards and takes disciplinary and enforcement action in the industry.
Covenant: A promise in a deed relating to land. A positive covenant requires the covenantor to do something; a restrictive covenant restricts how the land may be used.
Diplomatic clause: A term commonly found in a tenancy of two years or more allowing a foreign tenant to terminate early, on notice and usually after a minimum period, if required to leave Singapore permanently, for example on transfer or loss of employment.
Dispute Resolution Scheme (DRS): CEA’s scheme providing mediation and arbitration for disputes between consumers and estate agents or salespersons, and for commission disputes, which must be taken through the scheme before being brought to the Small Claims Tribunals.
Easement: A right enjoyed over someone else’s land for the benefit of your own, such as a right of way or a right of drainage. It attaches to the land rather than to the person, so it passes with a sale of the benefited land.
Estate (in land): The extent of a person’s ownership interest in land measured by duration — principally the freehold estate, which is of indefinite duration, and the leasehold estate, which is for a fixed term.
Estate agency work: The regulated activity under the Estate Agents Act of introducing or negotiating with a view to a sale, purchase or lease of property, done for a client in the course of business or for, or in expectation of, a fee. Doing it without a licence or registration is an offence.
Estate Agents Act 2010: The statute that established CEA and set up the framework for licensing estate agents, registering salespersons, prescribing professional conduct and enforcing discipline.
Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP): HDB’s policy setting maximum proportions of each ethnic group in a block and a neighbourhood, which restricts to whom an HDB flat may be resold once a limit is reached.
Exclusive estate agency agreement: A listing under which one estate agent alone is appointed to market the property for a stated period and is entitled to the commission on a sale within that period, as distinct from an open listing where several agents may compete.
Fiduciary duty: The duty of loyalty an agent owes a principal: to act in the principal’s interest, to avoid conflicts of interest, to disclose any personal interest in the transaction, to account for money and benefits received, and to keep the principal’s confidences.
Fixture: An item once a chattel that has become part of the land through the degree and purpose of its attachment, and which therefore passes with a sale of the land unless it is expressly excluded.
Freehold: An estate in land of indefinite duration. In Singapore the main forms are an estate in fee simple and a grant of land in perpetuity from the State, which carries the covenants and conditions of the grant.
HDB Flat Eligibility (HFE) letter: The letter HDB issues confirming a buyer’s eligibility to buy a flat and to take housing grants and an HDB housing loan. A resale buyer must hold a valid HFE letter when granted the Option to Purchase, and it must still be valid when the resale application is submitted.
Indefeasibility of title: The principle under the registered title system that the title of the registered proprietor is good against the world, subject only to the exceptions the Land Titles Act allows, such as fraud and overriding interests.
Intent to Sell: The registration a flat owner makes in the HDB Flat Portal before selling, which gives a preliminary check of eligibility to sell. It must be registered at least seven days before granting an Option to Purchase and must still be valid at the resale application.
Intestacy: Dying without a valid will, wholly or in part, so that the estate is distributed according to the statutory rules of distribution rather than the deceased’s wishes.
Joint tenancy: Co-ownership in which the owners hold the whole property together without distinct shares, requiring the four unities of possession, interest, title and time. On the death of one joint tenant their interest passes automatically to the survivors.
Key Executive Officer (KEO): The individual appointed by a licensed estate agent to be accountable for its day-to-day management, supervision and compliance, who must meet CEA’s experience, examination and fit-and-proper requirements.
Land Betterment Charge (LBC): The charge administered by the Singapore Land Authority on the increase in land value resulting from a chargeable consent, such as a change of use, an increase in intensity or the lifting of a title restriction. It replaced Development Charge and Differential Premium on 1 August 2022.
Land Titles Act 1993: The statute governing the registration of title to land in Singapore, under which registration confers title and the register is the authoritative record of interests in registered land.
Lease: A grant of exclusive possession of land for a term, creating an interest in the land that binds the landlord’s successors. Leases of more than seven years should be registered; a tenancy of seven years or less held by a tenant in occupation is an overriding interest.
Leasehold: An estate in land held for a fixed term, after which the land reverts to the landlord or, in the case of a State lease, to the State without compensation.
Letter of Intent (LOI): A document used in leasing in which a prospective tenant sets out the main terms it proposes and usually pays a good faith deposit. Whether it binds the parties depends on its wording and conduct, not on its title.
Licence (in land): Permission to be on land that does not give exclusive possession and creates no interest in the land. A licence binds only the parties to it, so it does not survive a sale of the land in the way a lease does.
Loan-to-Value (LTV) limit: The maximum proportion of a property’s value or price that may be financed by a housing loan, set by MAS for bank loans and by HDB for HDB loans, and varying with the number of outstanding housing loans and the loan tenure and borrower’s age.
Management corporation (MCST): The body corporate created on the registration of a strata subdivision plan, comprising all the subsidiary proprietors, which manages and maintains the common property and enforces the by-laws.
Master Plan: URA’s statutory land use plan guiding Singapore’s development over the medium term, showing permissible use and intensity, including zoning and gross plot ratio, for each parcel of land. The Master Plan 2025 was gazetted on 1 December 2025.
Minimum Occupation Period (MOP): The period an HDB flat owner must physically occupy the flat before becoming eligible to sell it on the open market or, in most cases, to rent out the whole flat.
Misrepresentation: A false statement of fact made by one party that induces the other to enter a contract. Depending on whether it is fraudulent, negligent or innocent, the remedies may include rescission and damages.
Mortgage: The charging of an interest in land as security for a loan. The borrower is the mortgagor and the lender the mortgagee, and on default the mortgagee may exercise remedies including the power of sale.
Mortgage Servicing Ratio (MSR): The MAS limit capping the monthly repayment on a housing loan for an HDB flat, or an executive condominium bought from a developer, at 30 per cent of the borrower’s gross monthly income.
Negligence: The tort of causing loss by failing to take the care a reasonable person would take, which requires a duty of care, a breach of it, and damage caused by the breach that is not too remote.
Option fee: The sum the buyer pays for the grant of an Option to Purchase. For an HDB resale flat the option fee is between $1 and $1,000, and the total of the option fee and the option exercise fee may not exceed $5,000.
Option to Purchase (OTP): A document by which a seller grants a buyer the right to buy the property on stated terms within a stated period. The buyer acquires a contract of sale by exercising the option within that period, in the manner the option requires.
Overriding interest: An interest that binds a registered proprietor even though it does not appear on the register, such as a tenancy of seven years or less held by a tenant in occupation.
Power of sale: The mortgagee’s right, on default by the mortgagor and after the required notice or lapse of time, to sell the mortgaged property and apply the proceeds to the debt, accounting for any surplus to the mortgagor.
Prescribed estate agency agreement: One of the standard forms of estate agency agreement that CEA requires to be used for residential sale, purchase and leasing work, covering both HDB and private residential property.
Professional indemnity insurance (PII): Insurance covering claims arising from professional negligence in estate agency work. A salesperson must be covered by a policy valid for at least one year from the commencement of registration, and CEA prescribes minimum cover by the size of the estate agent.
Restrictive covenant: A covenant limiting what may be done on land, such as a restriction on building or on using premises for trade. It can bind later owners of the burdened land in equity if the requirements for enforcement are met.
Reversion: The interest that remains with a grantor after granting a lesser estate, and which takes effect again when that estate ends — as where a landlord’s reversion falls in at the end of a lease, or land reverts to the State at the expiry of a State lease.
Seller’s Stamp Duty (SSD): A stamp duty payable by the seller where property is disposed of within a specified holding period after acquisition, with the rate reducing as the holding period lengthens and separate regimes for residential and industrial property.
Severance: The conversion of a joint tenancy into a tenancy in common, which destroys the right of survivorship, for example by one joint tenant dealing with their interest or by the owners agreeing to hold in shares.
Specific performance: An equitable remedy by which the court orders a party to perform its contractual obligation rather than pay damages. It is commonly sought for contracts for the sale of land because land is treated as unique.
State lease: A lease of land granted by the State, which contains implied covenants and conditions such as paying rent, not subdividing without consent and using the land for the approved purpose, with a right of re-entry for breach.
Strata title: Title to an individual lot in a subdivided building, held together with a share in the common property. It is created by registering a strata subdivision plan and allows separate dealings with each unit.
Strata Titles Board (STB): The tribunal that hears strata management disputes and approves collective sale applications, to which an application must be made within 12 months of the date the required consent level is reached.
Subsidiary proprietor: The registered owner of a strata lot, who is a member of the management corporation and is liable for contributions to the management and sinking funds.
Survivorship: The characteristic of a joint tenancy by which a deceased joint tenant’s interest passes automatically to the surviving joint tenants rather than under the deceased’s will or on intestacy.
Temporary Occupation Licence (TOL): A licence from the State permitting the temporary use of State land. Because it is a licence, it confers no estate or interest in the land and can be terminated on the licence’s terms.
Tenancy in common: Co-ownership in which each owner holds a distinct undivided share, which may be unequal. There is no survivorship, so a deceased owner’s share passes under their will or on intestacy.
Tenure: The basis on which land is held and for how long — in practice, whether the land is freehold, an estate in perpetuity, or leasehold, and if leasehold, the remaining term.
Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR): The MAS limit capping a borrower’s total monthly debt obligations, including the new housing loan, at 55 per cent of gross monthly income, computed using a prescribed interest rate floor or the market rate if higher.
Trust: An arrangement in which a trustee holds the legal title to property for the benefit of a beneficiary, who holds the equitable interest. It may be created expressly or arise by operation of law, as with a resulting or constructive trust.
Vacant possession: Delivery of the property on completion free of occupiers, their belongings and any claim to possession, so that the buyer can take immediate occupation.
Zoning: The allocation of land to a permitted category of use in the Master Plan, such as residential, commercial or business, which together with gross plot ratio governs what may be built and how the property may lawfully be used.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to memorise statute section numbers for the RES exam?

Learn the shape of each statute and what it does before worrying about section numbers. Knowing that the Land Titles Act 1993 governs registered title and what registration gives the registered proprietor is worth more than reciting a section number, though a handful of well-known provisions are worth knowing by name.

Which terms do candidates most often confuse?

The recurring pairs are lease against licence, joint tenancy against tenancy in common, easement against restrictive covenant, legal against equitable interest, and condition against warranty in contract. Each pair has a consequence attached — whether an interest binds a buyer, whether a share passes by will, whether a contract can be terminated — and that consequence is usually what the question is testing.

Are the terms the same in Paper 1 and Paper 2?

The land law vocabulary introduced in CU1 and CU2 is used throughout CU3 and CU4, so the terms carry over. Paper 2 adds its own vocabulary from the regulatory framework and from transactions and finance, such as estate agency work, co-broking, the prescribed estate agency agreements, the Minimum Occupation Period and the debt servicing ratios.

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Disclaimer: All questions on this portal are created to aid candidates in preparing for and passing the Real Estate Salesperson (RES) Examination. They are not official examination questions and are not representative of, endorsed by or affiliated with the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) or NTUC LearningHub. Laws, rates and policies change — always verify against official sources.