Tuesday, April 17, 2018

When the lease on the HDB flat runs out

What happens when the HDB flats runs out of its lease of 99 years? Many of the owners will have to return the flat to the HDB which will return the land to the government. They would have lost the entire investment in the flat, including the use of CPF.

Someone suggested that the government should increase the lease to 150 years. He did not indicate if a premium should be paid to extend the lease by another 50 years.

I wish to suggest that the government consider the following measures:

a) Allow the existing owner to continue to rent the flats at a subsidised rate, provided that the flat is still in habitable condition and there are no immediate plans for redevelopment.

b) Allow the existing owner to renew the lease for another 5 or 10 years at the time. A premium have to be paid but this can be fixed at an affordable sum. This would be similar to buy a COE on a car.

As there is a lot of uncertainty now, it would be useful for the government to announce a policy to allow these options.

Tan Kin Lian

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