Written answer by MND on number of appeals for waiver of 15-month wait-out period by divorced private residential property owners

Jan 10, 2023

Question No: 2528

Question by: Mr Don Wee

To ask the Minister for National Development

(a) how many appeals have been made for the waiver of the 15-month wait-out period where the private property owners had commenced divorce proceedings prior to the announcement of the wait-out period in September 2022, with the intention to purchase a resale HDB flat thereafter;

(b) how many of these appeals have been successful; and

(c) what are the guidelines used by the Ministry to consider these appeals.

Answer:

As part of the property cooling measures introduced on 30 Sep 2022, private residential property owners (PPOs) and ex-PPOs are required to serve a wait-out period of 15 months after the disposal of their private properties before they are eligible to buy a non-subsidised resale flat. This is a temporary measure to help moderate demand for resale flats.

2        Between 30 Sep and 30 Nov 2022, HDB received about 120 appeals from PPOs/ex-PPOs who had commenced divorce proceedings prior to the introduction of the 15-month wait-out period, with the intention to purchase a resale HDB flat after the divorce. Thus far, 64 appeals have been processed, and about 52% of them were successful.

3        HDB is progressively reviewing the remaining appeals received. HDB evaluates each appeal carefully on a case-by-case basis based on the individual merits, such as whether the appellants have made some form of commitment to the purchase of a resale flat prior to 30 Sep 2022, or whether the appellants are in financial difficulties and would not have viable housing options.