Oral answer by Ministry of National Development on fiancé BTO applicants failing to submit marriage certificate who refused to surrender flats or managed to find replacement joint applicants

Mar 21, 2023

Question No: 4344

Question by: Mr Gan Thiam Poh

To ask the Minister for National Development (a) in the past ten years, how many HDB BTO applicants who purchased their flat as fiancé and fiancée, did not submit their marriage certificate when requested for verification after six months of collecting their keys; (b) how many of such applicants have refused to surrender their flats when informed, resulting in HDB taking recovery action; and (c) how many have managed to find a replacement who are eligible as joint applicants to retain the flat as approved by HDB.

Answer

1 HDB flat owners who purchased a flat under the Fiancé-Fiancée Scheme are required to produce their marriage certificate within three months from taking possession of the flat. The 3-month period is generally sufficient as most couples would have ample time after the flat application to plan for their marriage. Should the couple require more time due to unexpected circumstances, HDB may grant a further 3-month extension and exercise flexibility on a case-by-case basis.

2 HDB does not track the number of fiancé-fiancée flat applicants who submitted their marriage certificate after six months of taking possession of their flat. Some of these applicants were granted further extensions of time due to extenuating circumstances and were able to submit their marriage certificate subsequently. Couples who do not intend to proceed with their marriage would have to surrender their flat to HDB. In some cases, an exception can be made to have one of the applicants retain the flat with the inclusion of a family member originally listed in the application, with the agreement of the other party. Owners who refuse to regularise their lease will face compulsory acquisition (CA) actions by HDB.

3 As of 31 Dec 2022, there were 79 couples who have bought their new flats from HDB under the Fiancé-Fiancée Scheme in the last 10 years, and have taken possession of their flats for more than six months, but have yet to produce their marriage certificate.

Of these 79 couples, HDB allowed three of the cases to have one of the applicants retain the flat with the inclusion of a family member originally listed in the flat application, and initiated CA actions against two of them. Another five couples have submitted applications to surrender their flats. The remainder are recent cases, where many had cited difficulties proceeding with their marriage during the COVID period.

4 HDB will continue to work with the owners of the remaining outstanding cases to regularize their lease through the submission of marriage certificate, surrender of the flat, or via CA actions.

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