This is part 3 of our 6 part guide to buying a HDB BTO flat. Part 2 tells you all you need to know about Prices & Financing. You can find it here.
In Part 3 of The BTO Guide to End All BTO Guides, the article will guide you through the timeline and procedure of applying a BTO flat. There are 6 essential key steps to getting your BTO flat. Follow these simple steps and your application will be smoother than the Kaya on your kaya toast.
- Sales Launch
- Submit Application
- Application Outcome
- Booking Your Flat
- Sign Agreement for Lease
- Key Collection
To view all the documents you need to submit to HDB, click here!
For HDB Loan Eligibility Letter, refer to Part 2 or click here!
What to Consider Before Applying For A BTO
Sometimes, life gets in the way and you may decide to cancel your BTO application. Aside from the nominal application fee, you pay at stage 3, the decision to cancel will only be really consequential after Stage 4 of the application process.
At this stage, you would have gone down to HDB hub to select a particular unit and paid the option fees, which are $1000 for a 3-room flat and $2000 for a 4-room flat respectively. When this happens, you will have to surrender your option fee and you will be barred from applying for another BTO for one whole year. This also means that you cannot apply for a DBSS, EC or even buy a resale flat with the CPF housing grant which has been announced for SERS.
If you decide to cancel after Stage 5 of the application process, things will get a whole lot more serious. This is what will happen after you cancel your BTO application after signing the Agreement for Lease. On top of the option fee and being barred from applying for one year. You will forfeit:
- 5% of the flat purchase price.
- All the legal and stamp fees you incurred.
- Cancellation penalties from signing a bank’s letter of offer.
Here is an approximate amount of what you will stand to lose.
| Price in SGD ($) | 3-room flat | 4-room flat | 5-room flat |
| Average Purchase Price | $210K | $340K | $400k |
| 5% of Flat’s Price | $10.5K | $17K | $20k |
| Option Fee | $1000 | $2000 | $2000 |
| Stamp Duty & ABSD | $630 | $4,6k | $6.6k |
| Legal Fees | $120+ | $210 | $210 |
| Total | $12.3k | $23.8k | $28.8k |
Thus, canceling your HDB BTO application can leave you about $12k to $30k poorer. For Executive Condominium applications, the losses are worse as you have to forfeit 20% of the purchase price.
Applying for a HDB flat is a big decision. In an ideal world, you should be 100% certain of your relationship before you apply for a BTO. However, life gets in the way and you can never be 100% certain of what will happen. Nevertheless, I hope your BTO application goes smoothly and you have a better awareness of what you are getting into.
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This post is part 3 of The BTO Guide to End All BTO Guides series. You can find the rest of the guide here:
Researching Understanding And Planning Stage:
Now, let’s go to Part 4 – Key Collection to see what you’ll need to do after collecting your key!