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Seven-day cool off period for flat sellers
Sellers of resale HDB flats will have a waiting period
Oct 19, 2010 - Joseph Jones
Rush sales may yet be a thing of the past as people who wish to sell their resale HDB flats will now have to wait for seven days before the sale can go through.

If this period of time is not adhered to the Housing Development Board will reject the resale application. The seven-day period starts as soon as the resale checklist has been completed.

These new regulations follow hot on the heels of the government measures to cool the property market. In a statement yesterday, HDB announced that the new rules ‘underline the need for financial prudence before buying or selling a home.’

The organization reiterated that its flats are meant for owner-occupiers – one of the themes of the cooling measures was the drive to discourage property speculation using HDB flats as collateral – and that buying or selling one needs to be carefully considered.

In addition to the waiting period, other requirements that sellers need to meet include:

  • Announcing their future housing arrangements. If sellers are purchasing they will have to provide HDB with the estimated proceeds of the sale of their existing home, and submit a financial plan for the purchase of their next one.
  • Registering an e-copy of the checklist and supporting documents, such as estimated sales proceeds and their financial plan, at HDB's website the day after they complete the resale checklist.
  • Sellers are then required to submit the original copy of the checklist and the option-to-purchase (OTP) at the first resale appointment. These documents must match the soft-copies registered with the HDB’s website, and cannot be within the seven-day period, or the application will be rejected.

These rulings will cover all transactions involving resales of HDB flats. 

There does not seem to be much of a downside to this ruling. It will ensure that those wishing to sell are forced to fully prepare their plans for their next purchase. While it is unclear from this ruling whether HDB would or could reject an application to sell if the seller’s financial plan was judged to be inadequate, the fact that the seller is now required to do one at all is a step in the right direction for fiscal responsibility.

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Related Categories: Legal Matters, HDB

Tags: Selling a HDB

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