Residential
After registering your Intent to Buy, you can proceed to look for a suitable flat within your budget and obtain an Option to Purchase (OTP) from the sellers when you have agreed on a price for the flat. If you intend to get an HDB housing loan, you will need a valid HDB Loan Eligibility (HLE) letter from HDB before the sellers can grant you an OTP. If you intend to get a housing loan from a financial institution (FI), you must have a valid Letter of Offer (LO) before you exercise the OTP.
You and the sellers must use HDB’s OTP as the form of contract in the transaction. Any other agreements and supplementary agreements relating to the sale or purchase of the flat are not valid under the Housing and Development Act.
You can download a copy of the HDB-prescribed OTP form. Please print only 1 copy of the OTP as each form has a unique serial number.
You will need to read the Important Notes of the OTP and the Terms and Conditions of Resale carefully before entering into a contract. Each OTP has a unique serial number, and you will need to state it when you submit a resale application to HDB. Please ensure the OTP granted to you by the seller is dated on or after 1 January 2018.
For OTPs that have been granted before 1 January 2018, the former Terms & Conditions for Resale applies.
The procedure to enter into a contract using the OTP is detailed below. You may also wish to refer to the press release dated 19 October 2017 or check the Frequently Asked Questions for more details.
Here are the 5 steps to enter into a contract using the OTP.
You and the seller have to negotiate and agree on the resale price of the flat. You can make use of the Resale Flat Prices service to check the transacted resale flat prices for the past 2 years to assist you in making an informed decision on how much to pay for the flat. The figures are updated daily based on HDB’s registration of the resale applications received.
Before entering into an OTP
Ensure that you have:
The sellers can grant you an OTP only after you have obtained a valid HLE letter from HDB.
When entering the OTP
Note: It is an offence to give false information relating to the resale application - HDB may take the necessary action(s) as stated in the Terms & Conditions, Option to Purchase and Application Form(s).
The seller will grant you the OTP to buy the resale flat at the agreed resale price
You or the seller must fill in these sections in the OTP:
At this stage, you are not required to sign on the OTP. However, in exchange for the Option, you will need to pay an Option Fee to the seller. The Option Fee should be a sum between $1 to a maximum of $1,000, to be negotiated between you and the seller.
Once the seller has granted the OTP to you, he cannot grant another OTP to another buyer until the OTP granted to you has expired.
The Option period is 21 calendar days, including Saturdays, Sundays, and Public Holidays. It is given to you by the seller, from the date of granting the OTP (refer to Step 2).
You should use the Option period wisely and not rush into exercising the OTP. During this period, you must:
Use the HDB Resale Portal to confirm your mode of financing and request for an assessment of the flat’s value
Decide whether you really want to buy the flat
You need to decide whether you will use cash, CPF savings, and/or a housing loan to finance your flat purchase, and indicate your mode of financing in the HDB Resale Portal.
If you are using your CPF moneys and/or taking up a housing loan to finance your flat purchase, you will need to submit a Request for Value to HDB to determine the flat’s value. The assessment will form the basis for your CPF usage and/ or the reference for a housing loan from HDB or bank/ financial institution, unless otherwise advised by a bank/ financial institution. You will need to pay a processing fee of $120 (including GST) to HDB.
If you have engaged the services of a salesperson, your salesperson can submit your Request for Value via the Estate Agent Toolkit (for agencies which are subscribers).
If a valuation of the flat is required, the appointed valuer will contact the flat seller to arrange for a flat inspection. Flat sellers are required to allow the appointed valuer to inspect the flat within 3 working days, as stated in the OTP.
HDB will inform you via email once the value of your flat is available in the HDB Resale Portal, typically within 10 working days from your request.
Important Notes:
You can only submit a Request for Value after you have been granted an OTP by the seller of the flat
You (or your salesperson) must submit to HDB the Request for Value, together with scanned copy of Page 1 of the OTP, by the next working day, after the Option Date. Your salespersons can continue to submit the Request for Value via the e-Resale e-Service or Estate Agent Toolkit (for agencies which are subscribers).
The value of the flat will remain valid for 3 months from the day it is made available in the HDB Resale Portal, if you exercise the OTP. If you do not submit a resale application within the 3-month validity period, you will have to submit a new Request for Value
If you are taking a bank loan, please ensure that you have a valid Letter of Offer from the bank.
The date of issue of the Letter of Offer must be on or before you exercise the Option.
If you wish to buy the flat, you have to exercise the OTP within the Option Period. You or the seller must fill in the following:
Clause 6.1(c) on page 2 of the OTP: Option Exercise Fee
Clause 12 on page 4 of the OTP: Number of days from the date of exercising the Option that you and the seller have agreed to submit the resale application to HDB
Bottom half of page 8 of the OTP:
A witness must sign on the OTP (your salesperson or any person who is a Singapore Citizen or Singapore Permanent Resident, aged 21 years or above, and not involved in the resale transaction)
When you exercise the OTP, you will need to pay a deposit to the seller. The deposit, including the Option Fee previously paid in Step 2, must not exceed $5,000 in total. The amount of deposit is negotiated between you and the seller.
If you do not wish to proceed with the purchase, you will need to wait for the OTP to expire. Your Option fee will be forfeited to the seller.
After you have exercised the Option, you and the seller have to decide when both of you wish to submit a resale application to HDB. Your portion of the resale application and the seller’s portion of the resale application must be submitted within 7 days of each other. Besides that, both portions must be submitted within the previously agreed number of days on page 4 of the OTP.
You and the seller (or seller’s salesperson) will have to submit the respective portions of the resale application separately. A resale application is deemed complete only when HDB received both portions of the resale application. You and the seller should ensure that all the prevailing eligibility conditions and resale requirements are met, on the day the second party submits his portion of the resale application. Find out more on submission of resale application.
Find out more about the streamlined resale process with the introduction of the new HDB Resale Portal.
We have different eligibility schemes under which you can buy an HDB resale flat.
Here are some resources to help you plan your finances before your flat purchase.
It is important to understand the resale procedures. Read about the details in the following sections.
