HDB InfoWeb : Reinforcing Owner-Occupation Among HDB Flat Owners

Date issued : 05 Mar 2010

The Minister for National Development, Mr Mah Bow Tan, announced in Parliament today that HDB will be raising the Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) for the resale of non-subsidised HDB flats from 1 and 2.5 years to 3 years. The objective is to reinforce owner-occupation.


2 HDB flats are primarily meant to provide owners with a roof over their heads. They are not meant for speculation or short-term profit. Hence, lessees are required to stay in their flat for a minimum period before they may sell their flat in the open market. Currently, lessees of subsidized HDB flats, i.e. HDB flats bought directly from HDB, DBSS flats bought from private developers or resale flats bought with CPF housing grant, are subject to an MOP of 5 years. On the other hand, lessees of non-subsidised HDB flats i.e. resale flats bought without CPF Housing Grant, are subject to the following MOP:


a) Those who take an HDB concessionary loan – 2.5 years


b) Those who take a bank loan or do not take a loan – 1 year


3 To reinforce the principle of owner-occupation, the MOP for resale of non-subsidised flats will be increased to 3 years, regardless of whether the buyer takes an HDB loan, a bank loan or no loan at all. With the extension of MOP, the demand in the resale market will also more accurately reflect the interest from buyers who are buying flats for occupation.


4 The revised MOP policy will apply to resale transactions where applications are received by HDB from 5 Mar 2010 onwards. Existing lessees of non-subsidised flats will not be affected, i.e. the original MOP of 2.5 or 1 year continues to apply to them. There are also no changes to the MOP for subletting of whole flats.


ENQUIRIES


5 For enquiries, the public can contact HDB as follows:


(a) Sales/Resale Customer Service Line : 1800 8663 066


(b) Branch Office Service Line : 1800 2255 432


(c) SERS Enquiry Line : 1800 8663 070