Sinagapore HDB flat owners who want to turn over their property to a family member are no longer possible to do so exclude under 6 special conditions, which includes financial hardship and divorce.
Covered by the new regulations which took effect last April, change of ownership is only permitted for marriage, divorce, death of an owner, medical reasons, renunciation of citizenship and financial hardship, according to HDB spokeswoman.
Previously, flat owners were not restrained by such condition, owners are free to transfer their unit to immediate family member or to a spouse.
According to property experts, the flat transfer is a common industry practice in the real estate circle, to avoid the Additional Buyers Stamp Duty (ABSD).
The practice of transferring flat ownership became even more common after January 2013, when Singaporeans required to pay ABSD from their second property, as a measure to curb the overheated housing market.
Since year 2012 to 2015, Singapore Housing Board permitted an average of 6,000 transfers of home ownership a year, and most of the reasons were marriage, divorce, financial hardship death of an owner.
Additional Buyers Stamp Duty (ABSD) is one of the cooling measures implement to lessen property market risk. Singaporean who is purchasing a second or additional residential properties, and property buyers who are non-Singaporean, will need to pay ABSD.
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Written by Siang Teck of Property Review. I can be contacted at [email protected]
