Advice needed for short term rental

[ChasingDreams]

Hey guys, I am a Singapore PR and have lived in Singapore for about 10 years. I've lived in my current apartment for the past 4 years (went through 3 lease renewals as I signed a 1-year lease each time) and understand TAs and renewals fairly well for a standard 1 or 2 years lease. I've recently been married and my husband is moving to Singapore to live with me. He will be on an LTVP and won't be working in Singapore (his industry/nature of employment does not require him to apply for an EP or work-visa in any country per se). We are now looking to move to a new apartment and start a new lease in July. For the first time in many years, I am not sure how much longer I'll be in Singapore for. It could well be another 2 years/5 years/10 years but it could also just be 6 months.

What are my options for going into a new TA given the following scenario -
1. We are willing to commit to a 2-year lease IF we are in Singapore but we need the flexibility to move out earlier (not earlier than 6 months) if we were to leave Singapore for a few years.
2. I am not sure if a standard diplomatic clause would work because those are dependent on your employer transferring you to another country or you surrendering your EP. We may decide to move out of Singapore even if it's not with my employer - it could be for a short break to travel or work in another country. Also, I am a PR so there's no way for me to prove that my EP/visa has been cancelled here.

What are our options?
1. Is it common for LLs to agree to a 6-month lease with a rolling monthly renewal thereafter?
2. If not, is it possible for us to get an early termination clause (akin to a diplomatic clause) that does not depend solely on employer-driven transfers but can include the option for us to leave Singapore at will. Any clause template examples that you can share? If we were to leave singapore, I would have either an employment transfer letter or a resignation/employment termination letter as evidence.

We are just exploring our options/rights right now so that we know what to ask for when we start apartment hunting. We are pretty clear - we will like to stay in the same apartment for a minimum of 2 years if we continue to be in Singapore and nothing changes on that front. Since we are setting up a home together for the first time, we are actually quite excited about doing it up as if we were to live here for good and won't want to terminate the lease for any other reason but leaving Singapore. It's very likely that we won't move at all and everything can go on smoothly but, for once, I want to cover all possibilities as my husband and I are discussing several major life decisions (e.g. going to business school, taking a break and traveling abroad, etc.) and I don't want a TA to be the reason why we aren't able to pursue those dreams.

How do you suggest we proceed? Any experience on getting a short-term rental or early termination clause that's more flexible than a usual diplomatic clause? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks a lot!

[BBCWatcher]

(his industry/nature of employment does not require him to apply for an EP or work-visa in any country per se)

Many would appreciate hearing about this new, global work permit. That'd be tremendous.

[sundaymorningstaple]

'twas thinking the same thing.....

[andri.tjiu]

Wow, the only one that I know no need work visa is if you are soldier from another country station in the military floating bases. Or might be also law enforcement officer from interpol.

I don't know is there any other work that have global visa

Sent from my SM-N915G using Tapatalk

[x9200]

If he is an owner/maintainer of an Internet site where the target market of his business is any country but the country of his foreign residency, or even better, his own country.

Actually this applies to any management/maintenance (being a LL for example) if only the impact of the job on the local job market is insignificant.

Still I would not call it universal (in any country).

BTW, If this is the case, OP, is your husband aware he may need to pay taxes in Singapore or he also claims a tax immunity through the nature of his job?

[JR8]

@CD
I think you're seeking the best of both worlds and it's complicating your decision making.
You're willing to commit to 2 years 'IF' etc, and there's no way of knowing if you'll be in SG for 2 years. As it is your options are severely constrained by this, and this required flexibility would make it more expensive.
If such flexibility is that important then maybe your primary option is a Serviced Apartment? Don't know. The flipside perhaps is finding a place on a TA with a break-clause after 6 months. But then you'd have to accept you might get terminated at that point too; would you be ok with that? Notice clauses cut each way pretty much evenly.
Do you honestly imagine relo'ing to SG then seeking to leave after 6 months? If so I don't envy the unpredictability of that. Do you feel able to commit to 12 months? Then you could see if you could agree a 12 month TA with it rolling automatically into 'month to month' afterwards, if that is what both parties agree. That would IME be a much more common arrangement, and so far simpler to find.

ps. I don't think you could activate a Dip Clause 'just because you wish to move on from SG'. Why would a landlord agree to such a one sided proposition?...