Hi bros,

Understand that the we can only get 2 times HDB loan in our life time. And that the 2nd time is only possible provided that we upgrade to a larger HDB flat.

Scenario: A person has brought a resale flat under non-citizen spouse scheme (meaning wife is not a citizen or PR) and enjoyed the HDB loan for the 1st time.

Then his wife obtained PR status, and he may request HDB to do a transfer of ownership of the existing flat from himself (being the sole owner) to co-own between husband and wife (a joint tenancy). The purpose is if something happens to the husband, HPS will kicks in, and then the wife can own the flat and continue to live in it without worries.

Question: Will the transfer of ownership (to ownself and same flat) considered that the person have used up another time of the HDB loan? Meaning he can never get another HDB loan even if he plans to upgrade to a bigger flat in future?

Alternative: Does writting a Will able to achieve the same purpose?

firstly, why is there a need to transfer ownership for HPS to kick in???

husband is lessee right? HPS protection 100% right?

so if anything happens to husband then HPS will kick in liao loh

flat will still go to the wife coz of the interstat law

don't think transfer of ownership got to do with hdb loan right?

the wife is not buying over the shares right?

Writing a will is better. Transfer of ownership quite troublesome, at worst it becomes a sales transaction (sell to wife + ownself) and incurs fees and costs.

HPS has nothing to do with this. It kicks in because the person dies, and the remaining loan is repaid. Thus the wife would receive a fully paid flat through the will.

Hi bros,

Understand that the we can only get 2 times HDB loan in our life time. And that the 2nd time is only possible provided that we upgrade to a larger HDB flat.

Scenario: A person has brought a resale flat under non-citizen spouse scheme (meaning wife is not a citizen or PR) and enjoyed the HDB loan for the 1st time.

Then his wife obtained PR status, and he may request HDB to do a transfer of ownership of the existing flat from himself (being the sole owner) to co-own between husband and wife (a joint tenancy). The purpose is if something happens to the husband, HPS will kicks in, and then the wife can own the flat and continue to live in it without worries.

Question: Will the transfer of ownership (to ownself and same flat) considered that the person have used up another time of the HDB loan? Meaning he can never get another HDB loan even if he plans to upgrade to a bigger flat in future?

Alternative: Does writting a Will able to achieve the same purpose?

firstly, why is there a need to transfer ownership for HPS to kick in???

husband is lessee right? HPS protection 100% right?

so if anything happens to husband then HPS will kick in liao loh

Yes, you are right. There is no need to do transfer of ownership for HPS to kick in.

At this instance, if something happens to the sole owner, then the flat will be fully paid.

flat will still go to the wife coz of the interstat law

Are you sure about this? Could you highlight which Act, Chapter pls?

I want to be sure that, when something happened to sole owner, and then the flat fully paid due to HPS, but the flat now no legal owner, will it still be automatically be inherited to the wife since her name not included as owner?

Will HDB give the flat to the wife?

don't think transfer of ownership got to do with hdb loan right?

the wife is not buying over the shares right?

The transfer of ownership is quite stupid in this case.

The owner is now transfering the ownership back to himself without any changes to anything except inclusion of wife's name. The wife will not be contributing any CPF.

However HDB considered this as an transfer and requires the owner to do HLE, to apply for HDB loan again, do valuation again, then transfer to back to himself.

Writing a will is better. Transfer of ownership quite troublesome, at worst it becomes a sales transaction (sell to wife + ownself) and incurs fees and costs.

HPS has nothing to do with this. It kicks in because the person dies, and the remaining loan is repaid. Thus the wife would receive a fully paid flat through the will.

OK, I've called up HDB, and they said transfer to ownself will not count as utilising another time for HDB loan.

However the transfer procedure will incur admin fees (cash $70), valuation fee (CPF $150) and legal fees (CPF $500~$1k)

Is the Will legally effective for the wife to receive the fully paid HDB flat even when her name not included as owner?

Believe the Will cannot anyhow specify anything, some things cannot be specified, example like CPF money can only be inherited thru normination, the Will is ineffective for such cases.

Question #1: Therefore will writing a Will be effective to let the wife inherit the fully paid HDB even when her name not included as owner?

Question #2: What is the market rate for lawyer fees to write a simple Will?

Are you sure about this? Could you highlight which Act, Chapter pls?

I want to be sure that, when something happened to sole owner, and then the flat fully paid due to HPS, but the flat now no legal owner, will it still be automatically be inherited to the wife since her name not included as owner?

Will HDB give the flat to the wife?

hi, i don't know which chapter it is

maybe a search on the internet will reveal that

but that's the succession law in singapore

if a person dies, 100% of his estate will go to spouse if no children

if got children then spouse 50% and children share the remaining 50%

if single then i think 100% to parents

a hdb will form part of the deceased's estate if he is the sole lessee

ultimately, like what waileong said

a will is the best coz it cuts down a lot of red tape and waiting

Is the Will legally effective for the wife to receive the fully paid HDB flat even when her name not included as owner?

Believe the Will cannot anyhow specify anything, some things cannot be specified, example like CPF money can only be inherited thru normination, the Will is ineffective for such cases.

Question #1: Therefore will writing a Will be effective to let the wife inherit the fully paid HDB even when her name not included as owner?

Question #2: What is the market rate for lawyer fees to write a simple Will?

if the wife's name is included as a owner under joint tenancy, then there's no need for a will

but if the wife's name is included as a owner under tenancy-in-common, she'll still have to go through all the legal hassle to get the unit all to herself

other than CPF monies and insurance policies assigned to ex-spouses, can't think of anything that can't be in a will

think market rate is $50?

but hor, that's only the writing part

does not include execution or whatever that is required

You should talk to a lawyer about a will.

In brief, you can give anything you own to anyone you like in a will.

Question #1: Therefore will writing a Will be effective to let the wife inherit the fully paid HDB even when her name not included as owner?

that should be correct. hdb would also be part of the estate. as mentioned, CPF monies are under nomination. but if no nomination is done. it will be accrued as estate also.

Question #2: What is the market rate for lawyer fees to write a simple Will?

the recommended bar "price" for a will is around $180. depending on lawyers. a typical will can range around $150 to even $500 or even alot more due to the complexity of the will and different conditions and clauses.

tenancy-in-common is extremely touchy when large families are involved and when the designated ppl to receive the inheritance is deceased/mia/uncontactble. thats one of the reasons why some old houses are abandanoned but yet can't be sold.

As usual. always check with your lawyer.

Question #1: Therefore will writing a Will be effective to let the wife inherit the fully paid HDB even when her name not included as owner?

that should be correct. hdb would also be part of the estate. as mentioned, CPF monies are under nomination. but if no nomination is done. it will be accrued as estate also.

If the HDB flat is part of the estate that will be inherited to the wife, but the wife's name is not the owner, will HDB forces the flat to be sold, then after by converting to cash/CPF only then will be given to the wife?

The main concern here is to secure the flat so that if something happened to the husband, the wife can still continue to live in the HDB flat even when her name is not included as owner.

HDB is like any other mortgagor, has no right to force-sell the flat if the loan is fully paid up, which will be done by HPS.

points answered by waileong.

HDB is like any other mortgagor, has no right to force-sell the flat if the loan is fully paid up, which will be done by HPS.

Hmmm... does it means that if the flat is fully paid, then the owner goes buy/live in a private property and rents out the flat for rental (but obviously violated one of the many terms & conditions / rules), you mean HDB have no right to force-sell the flat and take back the flat if they found out?

Coming back to our scenario, if the flat is fully paid but wife name is not in the ownership... will HDB allow her name be added as owner, let her continue to live in the flat, even when she alone is not eligible to own a flat (a PR, not citizen, no family nucleus, doesn't fall under any of the eligibility schemes)?

Why do you fear HDB?

sigh, please note that nobody OWNS a hdb flat

we are all leasing it from HDB, therefore the term lessee and co-lessee

however, it's just like any other contract

it's an agreement to pay a certain sum of money to lease it from hdb

unless you break one of the many rules and regulations, they have no right to evict you

similar to rental properties, if you have paid up in full for two years but unfortunately passed away, your family member can still stay in the property until the lease is up

Ditto for 99-year LH private property, at the end of 99 years, it still reverts to the state, hence you never "own" it.