A letter of intent on your letterhead.

A letter of intent, or LOI, is the short letter a prospective tenant's salesperson sends the landlord to set out the terms they are offering: the rent, the length of the lease, the deposits, the move-in date and any requests such as cleaning or repairs before handover. It usually comes with a good-faith deposit and is expressed subject to contract, so the binding document is still the tenancy agreement that follows.

An LOI is normally written to be non-binding on the lease itself, which is why it is marked subject to contract and why it sets a deadline for signing the tenancy agreement. The parts that do bite are the practical ones: what happens to the good-faith deposit if either side walks away after the terms are agreed. Read those clauses before you sign, and take independent legal advice on anything non-standard. This tool generates a standard template and is not legal advice.

The good-faith deposit accompanies the LOI and shows the tenant is serious. The market convention is one month's rent for a one-year lease and two months for a two-year lease. If the tenancy agreement is signed, the deposit is normally rolled into the security deposit or the first month's advance rental, depending on which wording the parties use. If the terms cannot be agreed, it is normally returned in full. If the tenant walks away after the terms are agreed, it is normally forfeited. The letter should say plainly which of these applies.

The usual convention is one month's rent for each year of the lease, so one month on a one-year lease and two months on a two-year lease, paid when the tenancy agreement is signed and refundable at the end of the term less any lawful deductions. It is a convention, not a rule, and it is negotiable.

A diplomatic clause lets the tenant end the lease early if they are required to leave Singapore, typically after an initial period of the lease has run and on two months' written notice with supporting evidence. Practice varies on when it can first be invoked, so the letter states the period the parties actually agreed rather than assuming one. It is often paired with a clause reimbursing the landlord a pro-rated share of the commission.

In practice the tenant pays it, and the agreement is stamped with IRAS within the time prescribed by law. Lease stamp duty is calculated from the rent and the length of the lease at the rates IRAS publishes.

Yes. A CEA-registered salesperson with a claimed FairComparisons profile can draw one up in about two minutes: the letterhead, registration number and standard clauses are already filled in, and only the property, the parties and the commercial terms are typed. The tenancy agreement is then started from the letter of intent, so those details are never typed twice.