Sign Agreement for Lease

You will be invited to sign the Agreement for Lease within 9 months after booking an uncompleted flat.

If you have booked a completed flat, you will sign the Agreement for Lease and collect the keys to the flat within 9 months after booking the flat.

Downpayment

You must pay the downpayment when you sign the Agreement for Lease, and the balance when collecting keys to your new flat.

The amount payable will depend on whether you are:

  • Taking an HDB housing loan
  • Not taking any housing loan
  • Taking a housing loan from a financial institution (FI)

Please refer to housing loan from financial institutions for more information on the loan ceilings for purchase of new flats.

You may pay the downpayment with cash and/ or CPF Ordinary Account (OA) savings (including CPF housing grant if eligible), depending on your financing option as shown in the table below.


 Housing Loan from HDB/ Not taking any loan Housing Loan from Financial Institution
Loan-To-Value Limit of 75% Loan-To-Value Limit of 55%
During signing of Agreement for Lease

10% of purchase price 

20% of purchase price:

  • Minimum cash payment at 5% of purchase price
  • Remaining 15% using cash and/ or CPF OA savings (including CPF housing grant if eligible)

20% of purchase price:

  • Minimum cash payment at 10% of purchase price
  • Remaining 10% using cash and/ or CPF OA savings (including CPF housing grant if eligible)
During collection of keys 15% of purchase price[1]    

5% of purchase price 

25% of purchase price 
[1] For flat applications received on or after 30 September 2022 and prior to the October 2024 sales exercise, the LTV limit is at 80%, and the downpayment during collection of keys is 10% of purchase price.

CPF housing grant recipients

If the amount of CPF housing grant that you qualify for exceeds 95% of the purchase price of the flat, you must pay at least 5% of the purchase price using your CPF OA savings and/ or cash. Any excess housing grant amount can be used to pay for Optional Component Scheme items, and/ or the price premiums payable by single applicants and Singapore Citizen/ Singapore Permanent Resident households. The balance will be credited into your CPF Special/ Retirement and MediSave accounts.

Items required

An overview of the documents required for the appointment.

You may be required to bring along the following documents to your appointment:

Type of Documents Details
Identity documents

Applicants

  • Identity Cards (ICs)^ of all listed applicants/ occupants
    • If you are employed, or serving National Service under the Singapore Armed Forces/ Civil Defence/ Police Force, you will need to log on to the Singpass app to facilitate verification of your digital IC

Occupiers

  • Identity Cards (ICs)^ of all listed occupants
    • If you are employed, or serving National Service under the Singapore Armed Forces/ Civil Defence/ Police Force, you will need to log on to the Singpass app to facilitate verification of your digital IC
  • Passport for non-residents
  • Birth certificate(s)^ of your child(ren)

^ Either physical or digital copy of the Identity Card, birth certificate or death certificate.

Changes to flat application

If there are any changes to your household particulars or financial circumstances, please contact us via MyRequest@HDB. If the changes render you ineligible to continue with the flat purchase, your flat application and the HFE letter that was used for the flat application will be cancelled. The usual financial forfeitures and consequences upon the cancellation of the flat application will apply.

Stamp duty and legal fees

When you sign the Agreement for Lease, you will also need to pay stamp duty on the Agreement for Lease and the legal fee(s).

Overview

Type of Fee HDB's Role
HDB acts for you in the purchase and mortgage* HDB acts for you in the purchase only HDB acts for you in the mortgage* only HDB is not acting for you
Stamp duty on Agreement for Lease Y Y N N

Legal fee for purchase of flat from HDB

(subject to GST)

 Y Y Y Y
* Applicable if you are taking a housing loan from HDB

Calculation of stamp duty for Agreement for Lease

Stamp duty is based on the selling price of the flat. The amount payable is calculated as such:

  • First $180,000: 1%
  • Next $180,000: 2%
  • Next $640,000: 3%
  • Remaining amount: 4%

You may also use Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS)'s Stamp Duty Calculator to compute the stamp duty payable for your flat purchase.

If applicable, you must also pay an annual stamp duty on your service and conservancy charges (S&CC) for the year. This is 0.40% of 4 times the S&CC amount for the year. This annual stamp duty is applicable if S&CC for the year plus annual rent of $1 is an amount exceeding $1,000.

Calculation of legal fee

The fees that you may need to pay are:

  • Legal fee for purchase of flat from HDB based on the purchase price of the flat
  • Legal fee for HDB to act for you in the mortgage based on the housing loan amount taken for the flat

Legal fees are calculated as such:

  • First $30,000: $0.90 per $1,000
  • Next $30,000: $0.72 per $1,000
  • Remaining Amount: $0.60 per $1,000

Please note that the legal fee is rounded up to the next dollar, before applying GST. The minimum legal fee chargeable is $21.80 (inclusive of GST).

Sample calculation

The following is an example of the amount payable for a 4-room flat when signing the Agreement for Lease if you take an HDB housing loan and engage HDB to act for you in the purchase of your flat.

  • Purchase price of flat: $345,000
Downpayment based on 10% of the purchase price $34,500
Add:
Stamp duty on Agreement for Lease $5,100
Legal fee for purchase of flat (inclusive of GST) $239.80
Total downpayment and fees $39,839.80
Less:
Option fee paid during booking of flat $2,000
Total downpayment and fees payable (inclusive of GST, where applicable) $37,839.80

Staggered Downpayment Scheme

The Staggered Downpayment Scheme helps you to pay your downpayment in 2 instalments. Part of the downpayment is paid when you sign the Agreement for Lease. The remaining amount is paid during the collection of keys to your flat.

Eligibility conditions

You will be informed during the flat booking appointment if you are eligible. You do not need to apply for it.

Buyers Eligibility
Couples
  • Both are first-timer applicants, or a couple comprising a first-timer applicant and a second-timer applicant
  • Applied for an HFE letter on or before the younger applicant’s 30th birthday
  • Booked an uncompleted 5-room or smaller flat
Flat owners who right-size to a 3-room or smaller flat
  • Have not sold or completed the sale of their existing flat at the time of their HFE letter application
  • Booked an uncompleted 3-room or smaller flat

Phased downpayment under the Staggered Downpayment Scheme

You may pay the downpayment with cash and/ or CPF Ordinary Account (OA) savings (including CPF housing grant, if eligible), depending on your financing option as shown in the table below.

  Housing Loan from HDB/ Not taking any loan Housing Loan from Financial Institution
Loan-To-Value Limit of 75% Loan-To-Value Limit of 55%
During signing of Agreement for Lease

5% of purchase price

10% of purchase price:

  • Minimum cash payment at 5% of purchase price
  • Remaining 5% using cash and/ or CPF OA savings (including CPF housing grant if eligible)

10% of purchase price

  • Cash payment only
During collection of keys[1]

20% of purchase price

15% of purchase price

35% of purchase price

[1] Applicants who do not take a housing loan will have to pay the balance purchase price by cash and/ or CPF OA savings when they collect the keys to their flat.

For flat applications of young couples eligible for deferred income assessment from the June 2024 sales exercise onwards, the downpayment depending on the financing option is as shown in the table below.

Housing Loan from HDB/ Not taking any loan Housing Loan from Financial Institution
Loan-To-Value Limit of 75% Loan-To-Value Limit of 55%
During signing of Agreement for Lease

2.5% of purchase price

2.5% of purchase price

  • Cash payment only

2.5% of purchase price

  • Cash payment only
During collection of keys[2]

22.5% of purchase price

22.5% of purchase price

  • Minimum cash payment at 2.5% of purchase price
  • Remaining 20% using cash and/ or CPF OA savings (including CPF housing grant if eligible)

42.5% of purchase price

  • Minimum cash payment at 7.5% of purchase price
  • Remaining 35% using cash and/ or CPF OA savings (including CPF housing grant if eligible)

[2] Applicants who do not take a housing loan will have to pay the full balance purchase price by cash and/ or CPF OA savings when they collect the keys to their flat.

Deferred Downpayment Scheme (DDS)

DDS enables seniors who are right-sizing to defer the payment of downpayment until key collection.

DDS will help to ease the cash flow of senior flat owners whose funds are tied up in their existing flat and smoothen their right-sizing process. It will automatically be extended to flat buyers who fulfil the following eligibility conditions:

  • 55 years old and above at the time of their HFE letter application
  • Have not sold or completed the sale of their existing flat/ private property* at the time of their HFE letter application
  • Have booked an uncompleted 3-room or smaller flat in any HDB sales exercises

*This only applies to Singapore citizens (and their spouses) aged 55 and above who have booked an uncompleted short-lease 2-room Flexi flat or Community Care Apartment in any HDB sales exercises.

With DDS, eligible flat buyers will only need to pay the stamp duty and legal fees when they sign the Agreement for Lease, within 9 months after booking a flat. They will pay the full purchase price of the flat once it is ready for key collection. If the new flat application is cancelled, the usual forfeiture of 5% of the flat price will apply.

You will be informed during your flat booking appointment if you are eligible to defer your downpayment.

Power of Attorney (POA)

You will need a POA if you are unable to sign the Agreement for Lease or collect the keys personally.

A Power of Attorney (POA) is a legal document that allows a person ('donor') to appoint another person ('attorney') to act on his behalf and in his name on matters specified in the POA.

As a flat buyer, you have to attend these appointments personally:

  • Booking of flat
  • Signing of Agreement for Lease
  • Collection of keys

If you are unable to attend the booking appointment, you will have to complete the authorisation form given in the invitation package and have your representative submit it to us during your flat booking appointment.

If you are unable to attend the appointment to sign the Agreement for Lease and/ or collect the keys, you will have to approach a solicitor to prepare a POA to act on your behalf in the flat purchase.

All persons listed in the flat application must physically reside in the flat within 6 months after key collection and any period of non-occupation during the 6 months will be excluded from the MOP computation.

Steps required by you and your private solicitor

Steps Process
Step 1: Preparing the POA Engage a solicitor to prepare the POA.
Step 2: Signing the POA

The POA has to be signed by you in the presence of your solicitor. If you are already overseas, you must sign the POA in the presence of one of the following parties:

* If you are using CPF OA savings to buy a flat, the POA must be witnessed and sealed/ stamped by an official from a Singapore Overseas Mission instead. You may visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' website for more details on the nearest Singapore Overseas Mission.
Step 3: Registering the POA After your POA has been signed, your solicitor will register the POA with the High Court Registry.
Step 4: Submitting required documents to HDB

Once the POA has been registered, you have to submit the following documents to us, at least 2 weeks before the scheduled appointment:

  • Original POA + 1 photocopy
  • Certified true copy from the High Court + 1 photocopy
  • 2 certified true copies of the POA by an Advocate and Solicitor
  • A letter from the solicitor confirming that the standard format for POA provided by HDB has been used
  • Certified true copy by an Advocate and Solicitor together with the computer printout with the High Court seal. This is required in cases where POA has been registered through the Electronic Filing System

Important note:

  • If you are going overseas, you are advised to obtain the POA before leaving the country
  • The POA cannot be used for the signing of the following documents, which you must sign personally:
    • Application form
    • Statutory declarations (you must sign in the presence of a Commissioner of Oaths or Notary Public)
    • Any undertakings
    • Loan agreement
  • If you have submitted an original POA or a certified true copy of the POA from the High Court to us, it will be returned to your solicitor. This is after the Lease & Mortgage document has been registered with the Singapore Land Authority
  • However, certified true copies of the POA by your solicitors will be retained by HDB