Around half of the 1,700 flats surrendered were two-room flats, one-sixth were three-room flats, and one-third were four-room or larger flats.
About 1,700 flats were surrendered to the Housing and Development Board (HDB) in the past five years, said Senior Minister of State for National Development Sim Ann in Parliament on Tuesday (2 March).
Of these, around half were two-room flats, one-sixth were three-room flats, and one-third were four-room or larger flats, she said.
Sim made the statement in response to MP Gan Thiam Poh’s question on the number of HDB flats resold to HDB, the reason why the flats were resold and if HDB would consider offering such flats on its open booking system.
Sim noted that around 1,000 of the surrendered flats were on short-leases and comprises studio apartments, two-room Flexi flats acquired on a short lease as well as flats whose owners opted for Lease Buyback Scheme (LBS).
“Owners of short-lease flats who no longer wished to retain their flats or who had become ineligible to do so, are required to surrender their flats to HDB. They are not allowed to sell them on the open market,” she said.
The other 700 flats were surrendered mostly due to changes in the circumstances of the owners in their Minimum Occupation Period (MOP). Such owners were not allowed to sell their HDB units on the open market as they had not fulfilled their minimum occupation period.
“The most common reasons for surrender of flats were divorce, break-up of fiancé-fiancée relationship, and annulment of marriage,” said Sim.
HDB compensates owners of surrendered flats and sells them through the Sale of Balance Flat (SBF) exercises.
“If the flats remain unselected after the SBF exercise, they may then be made available under open booking,” added Sim
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