Photo credit: Ivan Yeo/Unsplash
I recently sold my HDB BTO flat after it has reached its Minimum Occupation Period (‘MOP’). It is yet another significant milestone in my home ownership journey and one that has been a long time coming. To be specific, the process was 10 years in the making, from balloting to the eventual sale. As a first-timer, I was thankful to be guided by my property agent. Along the way, I learnt many lessons that I have included in this blog article. Here is a step-by-step guide on the timeline and sale of HDB resale flat. This guide will benefit those who are selling their HDB flats, especially if they choose to do sell without a property agent to save on the commission fees. I suspect this might be more common given that HDB recently launched a New Resale Flat Listing (RFL) service.
Step 1: Register Intent To Sell
Upon crossing the MOP mark, I log in to My Flat Dashboard to register Intent To Sell. After HDB’s preliminary assessment, it will also inform you on the earliest date that you can grant an Option to Purchase (‘OTP’). As shown in Diagram 1, note that there is a 7-day cooling off period between the date of Intent to Sell to the date that an OTP can be granted. Not sure why this was necessary but I think this can be removed to shorten the sale process. With real estate being probably one’s biggest ticket items in their entire lifetime, I don’t think decisions on buying and selling are made impulsively.
Diagram 1: Example of Intent to Sell issued by HDB
Do this before you put your flat on the market (i.e. online listing portals) or else