What is the procedure to sell a Private Residential Property?

  1. Option To Purchase (OTP)

If you are selling an HDB flat, you must have submitted the Resale Checklist for Seller at least 7 days prior to issuing the OTP.

When you have agreed on a price with a buyer, the most common practice is to issue an Option to Purchase agreement to the buyer. If you have hired an agent, he/she should take care of this for you. If you have not, you may ask your solicitor who should be able to provide a template. You may also refer to the Option to purchase template provided by the HDB. If you are selling an HDB flat, you must use the official Option to Purchase form available from the HDB branches.

After validating the document with your solicitor, you may now submit it to the buyer who will need to pay 1% of the agreed price (max $1,000 for HDB flats) in order to be granted this OTP. The buyer should submit the document to his/her solicitor before committing.

  1. Exercising the OTP / Legal completion

Once a buyer has signed the Option to Purchase, you must stop advertising your property. The buyer has 14 calendar days to decide if he/she wants to proceed or not with the transaction. If he/she does not, you will keep the option fee and you may start advertising your property again. If he/she does proceed, then the process varies depending if you are selling a private property or a HDB flat:

  • Private property: the buyer will return the OTP and pay an additional 4 or 9% (depending on the conditions defined in the OTP). Your solicitor should take it from here and liaise with your bank and the CPF board (if applicable) in order to deliver the property title to the buyer on completion date and make sure you get your money. The whole process should take from 8 to 10 weeks.

HDB flat: the buyer will return the OTP to you or your solicitor and pay an additional deposit of max $5,000 (including the option fee). Then depending on the agreed time frame, both buyer and seller should submit the Resale Application to the HDB.