Looks like we've got another winner at 23 Tebans Garden Road, if you are interested do reach out to Mr Clarie Lim, don't be shy ya? ;)

https://www.propertyguru.com.sg/listing/hdb-for-sale-23-teban-gardens-road-24314976

Property agents disciplined over breaches relating to HDB minimum occupancy rules; cases rise

SINGAPORE — Disciplinary action has been taken against 18 property agents who helped clients market Housing Board flats that may not have met the minimum occupation period (MOP) between 2017 and 2022, National Development Minister Desmond Lee said in Parliament on Monday (Jan 9).

They were among 51 cases involving 69 property agents that the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) investigated between 2017 and 2022.

Investigations into 32 cases have been completed and 19 cases are still being looked into.

Under the Code of Ethics and Professional Client Care, property agents need to perform due diligence to ensure that no law, including those that apply to HDB properties, has been infringed.

The Housing and Development Board (HDB) requires flat owners to fulfil a minimum occupation period of five years before selling their home, and the owners have to physically occupy the flat.

Of the 18 property agents who were found to have breached the code of ethics, six have had their registration suspended for between seven weeks and 48 weeks, as well as received financial penalties of between S$2,000 and S$5,000.

Two property agents were issued letters of censure, and one of them was also given a S$1,000 penalty. Another 10 agents were issued warning letters.

Mr Lee was replying to parliamentary questions from several Members of Parliament about how the Ministry of National Development (MND) ensures that Build-to-Order (BTO) flats are occupied by their owners during the MOP.

Mr Don Wee (PAP-Chua Chu Kang) also asked what measures there are to prevent future cases of BTO flats being left vacant or rented out during the MOP, until they are listed for sale.

In response to a supplementary question by Mr Saktiandi Supaat (PAP-Bishan-Toa Payoh), Mr Lee said that the number of complaints against agents who are suspected of helping to break HDB rules, including those in relation to MOP, has increased over the last two years, from about three per year to around 20 per year.

“We are concerned about this, and we'll continue to have HDB and CEA worked closely together to ensure that the understanding of the foundation of these rules relating to property and real estate are underscored by our sector,” said Mr Lee.

500 RANDOM INSPECTIONS MONTHLY

A few MPs also asked for more details on the breaches of the MOP over the years, how HDB detects such violations and how the ministry deals with such “errant owners”.

Mr Lee said that HDB detects potential infringement of HDB rules and regulations through a range of methods, including the use of data analytics and other tools. But it also does not want to “overly impinge” on the privacy of 1.1 million HDB home owners, the vast majority of whom abide by the rules, he added.

HDB conducts 500 inspections randomly each month to check for infringements, such as unauthorised rentals and non-occupation of flats.

The agency also relies on feedback. Between 2017 and 2022, HDB received around 4,700 cases of feedback on potential infringements of MOP rules.

As part of the HDB resale process, it also conducts inspection on all HDB flats in a resale transaction, and flats that have been found to be in bare or “brand-new” condition will be flagged for further checks.

HDB has taken action against 53 owners who had not occupied their flats and 21 have had their units compulsorily acquired from January 2017 to November 2022, said Mr Lee, numbers that HDB had previously given.

Owners whose flats are compulsorily acquired by HDB will also be debarred from buying subsidised flats or taking over such flats through a change in ownership.

"For some of these cases where we take firm action, it is quite clear from the evidence, from the interviews, investigation that they either had no intention to live in those homes or felt that ... they could get away with it," said Mr Lee.

Responding to MPs' questions on whether the penalties for such cases should be higher, Mr Lee said that their suggestions will be considered as part of a broader review.

STRIKE A BALANCE

Mr Lee told the House that the current five-year MOP seeks to strike a balance: Reinforcing the objective of owner-occupation, while not “unduly hampering” those who want to move when their family circumstances or life needs change.

As for owners who are unable to fulfil their MOP due to changes in their circumstances, they need to return their flat to HDB.

Between January 2017 and December 2022, a total of 258 BTO flats and 168 resale flats have been returned to HDB, he said.

These owners faced circumstances such as divorce or separation, death of the owner and medical reasons, among others. As they had not fulfilled their MOP, they were not allowed to sell their flat on the open market.

Mr Lee said he recognises the concern, and sometimes anger, of members of the public when they come across such cases.

“They see public housing as first home while recognising that people do have changes in life course and also do want to upgrade as their circumstances and financial situation improves,” he said, encouraging members of the public to blow the whistle on potential breaches.

“HDB will investigate such cases and continue to take firm action against infringement of HDB rules and regulations.”

https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/property-agents-disciplined-over-breaches-relating-hdb-minimum-occupancy-rules-cases-rise-2086246

Property portals remove non-compliant listings, say onus is on agents to ensure occupancy rules were met

SINGAPORE: Property websites told CNA that they have procedures to ensure that their online listings comply with laws and regulations, but the responsibility ultimately lies with agents who post the property online.

This comes after the Housing and Development Board (HDB) said last Thursday (Dec 22) that it is investigating property listings of “vacant” BTO flats being sold on the open market.

The issue made headlines after online news articles highlighted HDB flats for sale that touted the home being sold as "brand new" and never lived in. A few listings were found on PropertyGuru, one of the largest property portals in Singapore.

The HDB requires flat owners to fulfil a minimum occupation period (MOP) of five years before selling their home, and it has specified that the owners have to physically occupy the flat.

Replying to CNA queries, PropertyGuru said that the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) has reached out to its moderation team and it has "furnished the necessary listing information based on the regulator's queries".

PropertyGuru said that its agent partners are to ensure compliance with all laws and regulations prior to listing the properties on its portal.

It added that it has sent an email notification to its property agents to remind them to comply with both CEA & HDB’s regulations on meeting HDB flats' MOP.

Explaining how it ensures compliance, PropertyGuru said that all listings are moderated manually by PropertyGuru’s moderation team, with support from PropertyGuru users, who help report issues.

"A sound reasoning must be presented before the removal of listings from our site. Agents are required to make amendments or remove the post within a 24-hour or 48-hour period, depending on the nature of the violation, when a clear violation is found or reported," said a spokesperson.

When a complaint is made highlighting a violation, PropertyGuru will clarify with the agent. For example, for a HDB BTO flat listing that may have possibly breached HDB’s requirement of fulfilling a five-year MOP, it will request proof of documentation to verify if the sellers have HDB’s approval to sell the BTO unit before it reaches MOP.

"On our end, we are unable to determine if someone has lived in the house or not. However, our T&Cs state that agents are responsible for verifying that their listings comply with government rules," said the spokesperson.

Another property site 99.co also said that the onus is on the agent to ensure that their HDB listings comply with MOP rules.

"We are not able to accurately determine if a property listing complies to MOP status or not given that there’s no official way for a portal like ours to verify the MOP status," said the 99.co spokesperson.

99.co said that it will reject listings if regulatory bodies like CEA or HDB report any issues, and it also has reporting tools that allow people to report listings, and keyword monitoring to manage such listings.

The spokesperson added that their team actively works on taking down listings that are non-compliant, and it has come across some, which were removed immediately after being reported.

OhmyHome, another property portal, has a different approach. It said that it rarely has issues with non-compliance as it conducts independent checks with HDB on the MOP status of the unit.

"We are also pushing for 100 per cent verified listing via Singpass and the platform, so that the person posting are held directly accountable," said a spokesperson from OhmyHome.

"We are also in talks with HDB for deeper tech and API integration to check on sellers' eligibility to sell and relevant compliance information."

It said that going forward, with SingPass verification, it will be able to better authenticate listings and "eliminate problematic listings which were prolific in many portals worldwide".

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/hdb-bto-mop-property-websites-propertyguru-99co-ohmyhome-3169531

The shit has certainly hit the fan, I won't be surprised if these exposed transgressions are but the tip of the iceberg. Guess it's a case of too little, too late.

Dear HDB, come I clap for you :P

Kaki gong kaki song - so who will, and more importantly, how is this going to be thoroughly enforced?

HDB knew this was transpiring all along, except that it didn't give two fucks until things got escalated on social media. Pretending to react right now is completely in line with PAP's style of governance, therefore bravo indeed!

I can definitely sleep well tonight!

Good luck to the owner who was outed for trying to offload his "brand new" 5-room flat in Bukit Batok :)

HDB investigating claims BTO flats being sold in violation of minimum occupation rules

SINGAPORE: The Housing and Development Board (HDB) is investigating cases of Build-to-Order (BTO) flats being put up for sale after they were left vacant for years.

In response to CNA’s queries, HDB said on Thursday (Dec 22) it is aware of property listings of “vacant” BTO flats being sold on the open market.

“This includes the cases mentioned in recent media reports, some of which have already been under investigation at the time of media’s reporting,” it said.

Reports this week showed a BTO flat in Yishun being put up for sale after being left vacant for eight years. There were also reports of other empty BTO flats that appear to have never been lived in being listed for sale on property portals.

According to HDB’s minimum occupation period (MOP) rules, owners are required to live in the BTO flat before they can sell it on the open market.

During the MOP, owners are not allowed to sell or rent out the whole flat or buy a private home. This applies to flats bought from HDB or on the resale market.

Between 2017 and November this year, HDB has taken enforcement action in 53 cases where flat owners did not occupy their units during the MOP. Of these, 21 cases involved HDB taking back the flats, with the rest being issued financial penalties or warnings.

The Housing Board said it carries out about 500 inspections per month to detect violations of housing rules, such as illegal flat rentals.

Should it receive feedback on suspected cases of violations, such as flats being listed for sale without being occupied by their owners, investigations will be carried out.

On Monday, National Development Minister Desmond Lee said he was asked if a family can buy a BTO flat and not live in it for five years before selling it as "almost brand new" on the resale market.

"The answer is no. A BTO flat must be owner-occupied for the full MOP period. If the owners are unable to fulfil the MOP, then the flat needs to be returned to HDB,” he wrote in a Facebook post.

“HDB will then put up as a balance flat for other home buyers to apply for.”

WHAT ARE THE PENALTIES?

If investigations conclude that a flat was not owner-occupied during the MOP, HDB may “compulsorily acquire” the flat, impose a financial penalty of up to S$50,000 or issue written warnings.

Flats that are compulsorily acquired by HDB under these circumstances will also be put up for sale as sale of balance flats.

Under the Housing and Development Act, owners whose flats are compulsorily acquired by HDB will be debarred from buying a subsidised flat. That means they cannot buy a flat from HDB or buy a resale flat with a CPF Housing Grant.

They will also not be allowed to take over a flat by changing the flat's ownership and they cannot rent a public rental flat from HDB.

These individuals also cannot be included as occupiers in the application of such flats.

“Any application in the HDB queue for a subsidised flat made prior to the debarment will also be cancelled. For failure to occupy an HDB flat, the debarment period is five years,” said HDB.

As part of the resale process, a flat inspection will be arranged when the owners submit a resale application to HDB.

If there are signs that the flat has not been lived in, HDB will withhold the resale application and start investigations to check if the flat owners had failed to fulfil the MOP, said the Housing Board.

The investigation will include a physical inspection of the flat, a review of other supporting evidence or records indicating flat occupation, and interviews with owners as well as property agents, buyers and neighbours, as required.

Separately, for flats which are referred to HDB’s panel of valuers, it will also investigate if there are “tell-tale signs” from the valuation reports of non-occupation of the flat within the MOP.

SALE DURING THE MOP NEEDS TO BE APPROVED

On a case-by-case basis, HDB may grant approval for households whose flats have not met the MOP to sell their unit.

It will take into account the circumstances of the flat owners and their families, and the reasons for such exceptions include financial hardship, divorce, or the demise of the owner or owners.

“HDB flats are meant to meet the housing needs of Singaporeans, and primarily intended for owner-occupation,” said the Housing Board.

It added that licensed property agencies are required to ensure that all advertisements put up by their agents are accurate and truthful.

“Publishing false or misleading advertisements is a breach of the Council for Estate Agencies’ (CEA) Code of Ethics and Professional Client Care (CEPCC), and disciplinary action can be taken against errant property agencies and agents,” said HDB.

Property agents are also responsible to ensure that the sales of HDB flats are proper and legitimate.

Under the CEPCC, housing agents must comply with the laws that apply to property transactions, including HDB’s regulations.

They should advise their clients not to infringe these laws, said the Housing Board.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/empty-bto-flats-hdb-investigation-cases-property-portals-penalties-mop-3162821