The Lease Buyback Scheme (LBS) is an additional monetisation option launched on 1 March 2009 to help low-income elderly households in 3-room and smaller flats to unlock part of their housing equity while continue living in their homes, and receive a lifelong income stream to supplement their retirement income.

Low-income elderly households who need financial assistance are unlikely to be able to take advantage of schemes to monetise their HDB flats, such as:

• Buy a smaller flat,
• Buying a Studio Apartment, or
• Sublet a room

LBS will help to ensure the retirement adequacy of such elderly Singaporeans.

To allow more elderly households to benefit from LBS, Minister for National Development, Mr Mah Bow Tan, announced in Parliament on 5 March 2010 the expansion of LBS to the following two groups of elderly households living in 3-room or smaller flats*:

a) Those who previously owned 4-room or bigger flats; and
b) Those with an outstanding loan of more than $5,000, but will have proceeds of at least $60,000 for the purchase of an Immediate Annuity under CPF LIFE if they take up LBS.

* The changes will be implemented from 1 April 2010.

To view the press release, click here.



LBS is intended for those who wish to age-in-place. Hence, the 30-year lease term is non-transferable in the open market. The flat owner cannot sell the flat in the open market or sublet the whole flat.

Premature Termination of Lease

To terminate the lease prematurely, the flat owner can:

• Return the flat to HDB, and
• Receive a refund for the residual lease pro-rated on a straight-line basis
• If the flat is returned within the first 5 years, HDB will recover a pro-rated amount of the $10,000 subsidy.
• The Immediate Annuity plan will not be terminated and will continue to provide a lifelong monthly income.
• If the flat was bought with CPF savings, the lessees would be required to refund the sale proceeds to make up their cohort Minimum Sum, up to the amount of CPF savings that they had withdrawn and the interest that would have been earned on the withdrawn savings into their Retirement Account.

There may be cases where the flat owner outlives the 30-year lease. Such cases will be dealt with on an individual basis and appropriate housing arrangements will be provided to those flat owners who are not in a position to pay for the lease extension.

No elderly will be left homeless even if he/she outlives the 30-year lease of LBS.

• Your wife or child who is staying in the flat will be given the option of either staying in the flat for the rest of the 30 years, or to return the flat to HDB.
• If your lease is terminated pre-maturely, HDB will reimburse the lessee the residual value of the lease based on straight-line depreciation to your beneficiaries.
• The unused portion of your premium*, if any, will be refunded to your CPF accounts when you pass away. The monies will then be distributed to your nominees. If you have not made a nomination, the monies will be distributed to your family members according to intestacy law.

*E.g if $100,000 from the sale proceeds of the flat’s lease had been used to purchase the annuity plan from CPFB, and the lessee passes away after receiving $10,000, his estate gets the remaining $90,000, so he will not lose any of the annuity that is unused.

You may call our toll-free hotline between 8am to 5pm from Mondays to Fridays.

Lease Buyback Scheme	1800 - 5556363
HDB Branch Office Service	1800 - 2255432

To apply for LBS, visit the My HDBPage and login using your SingPass.
Upon successful login, navigate to My Flat > Purchased Flat - Flat Details.

You may also wish to find out more about the Application procedure and Fee Payable.

Last Updated on 01 Sep 2010