Window Safety in Singapore: Owner Duties, Inspections, Rivets and Falling-Window Penalties

A window is one of the few parts of a high-rise building that its occupant moves every day. That is also why it fails. Hinges and stays wear, rivets corrode, safety stoppers go missing during cleaning, and one day a panel pushed a little too hard leaves its frame and falls ten or twenty storeys. In Singapore this happens dozens of times a year. Most incidents injure no one, but BCA has said that every fallen window could cause death or serious injury.³

Singapore law answers the question “whose fault is it?” plainly: the owner of the flat is responsible for keeping its windows securely fixed. Since 1 October 2025, that duty sits in the Building Control Act. The building maintenance provisions of the old Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act were moved into it, and the old Act was renamed the Building (Strata Management) Act.¹⁵ The penalty for an unsafe exterior feature, including a window, is now up to S$20,000, 12 months’ jail, or both.⁸⁹

This guide sets out who is legally responsible in HDB flats, condominiums and commercial strata buildings, what BCA asks owners to check every six months, why aluminium rivets are banned from casement window stays, who may legally work on your windows, what the statistics show, and what to do after an incident. It ends with a checklist you can use on your next Window Safety Day.

The legal framework in one page

Three layers of law govern window safety in Singapore.

1. The Building Control Act 1989 (BC Act). It defines “exterior feature” and “person responsible”, sets the duty to keep exterior features securely fixed (s 25H), gives BCA power to issue notices to maintain (s 25E), empowers the Minister to order retrofitting of classes of exterior features (ss 22A–22C), and requires serious incidents to be reported (ss 25B–25C).⁸
2. Subsidiary legislation under the BC Act. The Building Control (Meaning of Exterior Features) Regulations 2021 list what counts as an exterior feature. Windows are first on the list.¹² The Building Control (Retrofitting of Casement Windows) Order 2004 requires stainless steel rivets.¹⁰ The Building Control Regulations 2003 control who may install windows.¹¹ The Building Control (Reportable Matters) Regulations 2025 set the six-hour reporting rule.¹³
3. The Building (Strata Management) Act 2004 (B(SM)A). For strata developments, it settles which windows belong to the unit and which are common property, and it sets the MCST’s maintenance duty.¹⁴

What counts as a “window”

The 2021 Regulations define windows broadly: any window, with or without movable parts, including roof skylights, glass panels, glass bricks, louvres, glazed sashes, glazed doors, translucent sheeting and any other material that lets natural light directly into the building. Grilles and shutters are listed separately as exterior features too.¹² So a glazed balcony door, a louvred kitchen window and a bathroom skylight are all covered, not only the classic casement.

Where the rules do not apply

The maintenance provisions (Part 4A, including s 25H) and the retrofitting provisions (Part 3) both exclude two things:⁸

• exterior features on detached, semi-detached, terrace and linked houses that are not in a strata title plan; and
• exterior features on the lowest level of any building.

A landed homeowner is therefore outside the s 25H offence, though not outside the general law of negligence. A strata landed cluster house is inside it.

Who is legally responsible

The BC Act does not leave responsibility to private agreement. It defines the “person responsible” for each exterior feature.⁸

The strata rule for windows

Strata buildings cause the most confusion, so the statutory text is worth knowing. Section 2(9) of the B(SM)A provides that all windows on a lot’s exterior wall that are louvres, casement windows, sliding windows or windows with any movable part are part of the lot, not common property. All other windows on the exterior wall (in practice, fixed panes) are common property, unless the strata title plan describes them otherwise.¹⁴

The MCST’s duty under s 29(1)(b) is to properly maintain and keep in good and serviceable repair the common property and “each door, window and other permanent cover over openings in walls” where a side of it is part of the common property.¹⁴

The BC Act then aligns safety responsibility with ownership. For a window, grille or shutter that is part of a flat, the person responsible is the flat owner or the person with daily charge of it, and this paragraph takes priority over the general rule for common property.⁸ In practical terms:

• Your openable windows are yours. Their hinges, stays, rivets, stoppers, angle strips and locks are your responsibility, even though they sit in the building’s façade.
• Fixed façade glazing is usually the MCST’s. That includes many curtain-wall and full-height fixed panels in newer condominiums. Check your strata title plan.
• Mixed assemblies need care. A window wall with fixed lites and an openable sash may split responsibility within one frame. Agree the split in writing with your managing agent before a defect becomes a dispute.

Tenants and occupiers

The BC Act definition extends to “other person who ordinarily has daily charge and control over the maintenance and use” of a window.⁸ A lease does not erase the owner’s position, but a long-term tenant who controls a unit day to day may also be a person responsible. Owners who let units should state in the tenancy agreement who checks the windows, who calls the contractor, and how access is given.

Penalties and enforcement

The offences

BCA’s media releases between 2018 and 2023 quoted the earlier figures: up to S$10,000 and/or one year’s jail for a window that falls through lack of maintenance, and up to S$5,000 and/or six months’ jail for failing to replace aluminium rivets.²⁶ Those releases predate the October 2025 changes. The current statutory maximum for an unsafe or fallen window is the S$20,000 figure in s 25H.

The presumption that catches owners

Section 25H(2) is the provision owners should read twice. If it is proved that a window (or part of it) has fallen, and that there is damage, deterioration or disrepair not caused by accident or acts of nature (fire, explosion, windstorm, lightning, falling trees, vehicles, earthquake and the like), the court presumes the person responsible failed to keep it securely fixed, unless the owner proves otherwise.⁸ Corroded rivets and missing stoppers are exactly the kind of deterioration that triggers the presumption.

The two defences

The Act gives the person responsible two ways out:⁸

• Defective materials or work by someone else (s 25H(3)). It is a defence to prove that the defect was caused by materials or work supplied by another person, for example a contractor who fitted the wrong rivets.
• Reliance on an appointed contractor or managing agent (s 25H(4)). The owner is not guilty if, within 7 days of being served notice of the alleged offence, they give BCA a statutory declaration naming the contractor, managing agent or other person appointed to manage and maintain the window, and satisfy the court that they relied in good faith, after proper inquiry, on that person’s professional advice or services.

The practical lesson: keep the invoice, the contractor’s BCA registration and the completion report for every window job. Without them, the second defence is very hard to run.

Enforcement in numbers

BCA has enforced the window rules steadily. Its year-end releases record the cumulative numbers fined and prosecuted for fallen windows since 2006:

Sources: BCA media releases.²³⁴⁵⁶ BCA can also direct owners whose windows are non-compliant, such as those still fitted with aluminium rivets, to engage an Approved Window Contractor to rectify them.⁷

What the statistics show

BCA publishes fallen-window figures each December, usually for the first 11 months of the year. Every year shown below recorded no injuries.

Sources: BCA media releases, 2018–2023.²³⁴⁵⁶ We could not find a published BCA figure for 2022, 2024 or 2025, so none is shown. In 2018 BCA said fallen windows had averaged about 45 a year over the previous five years.⁶ In 2021 it also handled 12 further cases of windows that were close to dislodging.³

Three patterns repeat in every release:

• Casement windows are the largest single category each year, and BCA attributes most of them to corroded aluminium rivets that can no longer hold the panel.²⁵
• Sliding windows fall mainly because safety stoppers and angle strips are missing or worn, so the panel leaves its track when someone pushes outward too hard.²⁴
• The numbers are falling but not disappearing. Each case is a panel of aluminium and glass dropping from height onto a void deck, a car park, a walkway or a playground.

Aluminium rivets versus stainless steel: why the rule exists

A casement window that opens outward usually hangs on variable geometry stays (often called friction stays): a pair of hinged metal arms at the top and bottom of the sash that let it swing out and hold it open. The arms are joined by small rivets. Every time the window is opened, closed or caught by the wind, those rivets carry the weight of the sash in shear and bending.

Singapore’s climate is hard on small aluminium parts. Constant humidity, rain and coastal salt corrode them, and a corroded rivet loses cross-section until it snaps. When the top and bottom stays are joined by rivets in similar condition, both can fail together and the sash drops free.

What the Retrofitting Order requires

The Building Control (Retrofitting of Casement Windows) Order 2004 (S 599/2004) took effect on 1 October 2004.¹⁰ In outline:

• Which windows. Casement windows that are installed on, or form part of, the exterior of any residential building; open outwards; and have aluminium rivets at the variable geometry stays. A casement window is one that opens on hinges, pivots or variable geometry stays.
• Who must act. The person responsible for the window must engage an Approved Window Contractor to retrofit it.
• Deadline. For windows installed before 1 October 2004, the grace period was 12 months from that date. Windows less than five years old on that date could wait until they reached five years. Both deadlines have long since passed.
• What retrofitting means. Replacing all aluminium rivets at the stays with stainless steel rivets of type 304 complying with BS EN 10088 or equivalent, and checking before leaving site that the window is properly and securely retrofitted.
• Who may do it. Only a trained window installer, or a person under a trained installer’s supervision, who is a director, partner, sole proprietor or employee of the Approved Window Contractor engaged.
• Paperwork. The person responsible must submit a completion report to the Commissioner of Building Control. BCA’s current page says Approved Window Contractors complete and sign the relevant form (Form A for private flats, Form B1 for HDB flats) and give it to the owner.¹

BCA’s guidance adds that contractors who find casement windows with aluminium rivets should report them to BCA.¹

Ageing under a changing climate

BCA’s Guidelines on Periodic Façade Inspection (Version 1.3, September 2026) summarise research by the National University of Singapore on how a changing climate affects façade materials. Metals were generally resilient, but aluminium rivets showed a reduced service life of about 22 years, a reduction of up to 11%. BCA cautions that final assessments must rest on actual defect findings.¹⁷ For an owner of a building from the 1990s or early 2000s, the implication is that any aluminium rivet still in service is well into the danger zone.

Rivet comparison

Sources: Retrofitting Order 2004; BCA media releases; BCA PFI Guidelines.¹⁰²¹⁷

Can an owner tell the difference by looking? Not reliably. Rivet heads may be painted, worn or partly hidden in the stay. If you do not know when your casement windows were last retrofitted, and you have no completion report, assume they need checking by an Approved Window Contractor.

Sliding, louvre and other windows

Rivets are a casement problem. Other window types fail differently.

• Sliding windows depend on safety stoppers (small blocks that stop the panel from sliding past its limit and out of the frame) and angle strips (profiles that keep the panel in its track). These parts are often removed during cleaning or renovation and never put back. BCA’s advice is to check they are in place, clean the tracks so the panel slides smoothly, and never force a stuck panel outward.³⁴
• Louvre windows have glass blades held by clips on an operating mechanism. Worn clips and loose blades are the weak point.
• Windows with PVC corner brackets rely on plastic corner pieces that can degrade. BCA’s maintenance infographic covers replacement of damaged PVC corners alongside stoppers and angle strips.¹
• Top-hung and pivot windows behave like casements in that the hinge hardware carries the sash. Their fixings deserve the same attention.

Who may work on your windows

Approved Window Contractors and trained installers

The Building Control Regulations 2003 make window work a licensed activity:¹¹

• Reg 41A defines an Approved Window Contractor as a company or firm registered by BCA under regulatory workhead RW01, and a trained window installer as an individual certified by BCA. “Installation” includes repairing, replacing and modifying.
• Reg 41D(1) requires anyone who wants to install a window on any building to engage an Approved Window Contractor or a builder. Where a window is installed in the course of building works, a builder must be engaged (reg 41D(1A)).
• Reg 41D(2)–(2A) allows only a trained window installer, or a person under one’s supervision, employed by that contractor or builder, to install a window that is an exterior feature.
• Reg 41E requires the work to meet the objectives and performance requirements in the Fifth Schedule. The contractor or builder must also submit a completion certification to the Commissioner of Building Control within 14 days of finishing a replacement, modification or safety-barrier reinstatement.

BCA’s current guidance confirms that a builder registered under GB1 or GB2 may also install windows, and points owners to BCA’s list of Approved Window Contractors. HDB owners should use HDB’s own list.¹

HDB flats

HDB requires flat owners to engage a BCA Approved Window Contractor listed in HDB’s directory for all window installation and replacement. HDB states that flat owners and occupants are responsible for window upkeep. It does not allow replacement of full-height windows (including 3/4-height and bay windows) except where a damaged frame needs complete replacement.¹⁶

Windows that double as safety barriers

Some full-height and 3/4-height windows act as the barrier that stops a person from falling where there is a vertical drop of 1,000 mm or more. BCA treats replacement or reinstatement of such a safety barrier integrated with a window as building works. The owner must engage a Professional Engineer to design it and submit structural plans, unless the owner adopts one of the Standardised Designs in Annex B of BCA’s Approved Document. In that case the work is “insignificant building works”, needing no PE and no plan approval or permit, but it must still be done by an Approved Window Contractor or builder with a trained installer who has completed the specific safety-barrier module.¹¹¹

Grilles and safety equipment in strata units

Window grilles are exterior features in their own right.¹² In strata developments, s 37A of the B(SM)A lets a subsidiary proprietor install safety equipment, including window grilles or screens and devices that restrict how far a window opens, despite any by-law that prohibits it. The owner must repair any damage caused to common property and install the equipment in a proper manner, in keeping with the building’s appearance.¹⁴ Once installed, the grille is the owner’s to maintain. For other changes to windows in a condominium, see our guide to condo renovation and MCST approval.

Inspection: the twice-yearly owner check

BCA and MND ask homeowners to check and maintain windows at least once every six months.²⁷ BCA reinforces this with half-yearly Window Safety Day outreach on 6 June and 12 December.⁷ The method is three words: check, clean, change.⁵⁷

What a professional inspection adds

An Approved Window Contractor can remove and inspect stays and fixings, identify rivet material, check frame anchorage to the wall, and issue the statutory completion report after retrofitting or replacement. For a condominium or commercial building, the MCST or owner may commission a survey of all openable windows. This works best if it is coordinated with façade access, so that each drop or gondola run serves several purposes. Our guide to rope access, scaffolding and gondolas compares the access options. Any contractor working at a window or on a ledge is working at height, and MOM has reminded owners, Town Councils and MCSTs to hire competent contractors and to cordon off the area below.¹⁹ See our guide to work at height law and occupier liability.

How windows fit into the Periodic Façade Inspection

For buildings taller than 13 m and older than 20 years, the Periodic Façade Inspection (PFI) adds a statutory layer. The Competent Person must carry out a full visual inspection and a close-range inspection of at least 10% of each elevation.¹⁸ BCA’s PFI Guidelines list typical window defects: dangling window panels, cracked or missing glass, rusty or corroded fixings, and failed screws. They also require the Competent Person to report to BCA any dangling windows spotted during the inspection.¹⁷ The PFI does not replace the owner’s own six-monthly check. A seven-year cycle cannot catch a stopper that went missing last month. Check whether your building is in scope with the PFI checker.

After an incident: what to do

The reporting duty also falls on others who learn of the incident in the course of their work: contractors retrofitting the feature, builders or supervisors of building works, and persons carrying out a façade inspection.⁸ An Approved Window Contractor who discovers a window that has already partly dislodged may therefore have a reporting duty of their own.

Glass that shatters is a related but different problem. See our guide to tempered glass breakage and glass railings. Windows are also only one class of exterior feature that can fall; air-conditioner brackets, sunshades and planters are covered in air-con brackets and exterior features, and the wider picture is in falling objects prevention.

For MCSTs and managing agents

Even where openable windows belong to the units, a fallen window affects the whole estate: cordons, car-park damage, resident anxiety and BCA attention. MCSTs can reasonably:

• circulate BCA’s six-monthly reminder to all subsidiary proprietors before 6 June and 12 December;
• record which windows in the development are common property (fixed panes, staircase and lobby windows) and include them in the MCST’s own maintenance schedule;
• ask owners carrying out renovations to confirm that window works were done by an Approved Window Contractor, and keep a copy of the completion report on the unit file;
• coordinate window surveys with the PFI and with any façade repainting or façade defect rectification, so that one access set-up serves several scopes; and
• know who will notify BCA, and how, if a window falls from a unit or from common property.

Window leaks are a different maintenance problem, often traced to sealants and drainage rather than hardware; see façade water leakage diagnosis.

Key takeaways

• The owner is responsible. For windows that are part of a flat, the BC Act names the flat owner or the person with daily charge. In strata buildings, openable windows are part of the lot; fixed exterior windows are generally common property.
• The law changed on 1 October 2025. Window maintenance duties moved from the old BMSMA into the Building Control Act. The maximum penalty for an unsafe or fallen exterior feature is now S$20,000, 12 months’ jail, or both.
• A fallen window is presumed to be the owner’s failure where there is deterioration not caused by accident or acts of nature. The defences depend on records showing you used a qualified contractor.
• Casement stays need stainless steel rivets. Type 304 stainless steel under BS EN 10088 or equivalent, fitted by an Approved Window Contractor, has been required since 2004.
• Check every six months (6 June and 12 December), and use only BCA Approved Window Contractors (RW01) or GB1/GB2 builders with trained window installers.
• Report within 6 hours if a window injures someone or damages property.

Browse the glossary for terms used in this guide, or see our façade works at height service page.