What are the fees you need to pay (besides the home loan) before selling your HDB flat?

You have completed the five-year Minimum Occupation Period (MOP), and your growing family is itching to move into a larger home. You have made up your mind — you are going to sell your current HDB flat in exchange for a bigger and fancier home. But there is just one problem: You are unsure of the expenses to be paid before selling your HDB flat.

One of the most important things you need to settle is your outstanding home loan. On top of that, there are a few other costs that you need to pay before selling off your HDB flat.

1. Resale application administrative fee

When do you pay?

Both the seller and buyer are required to fork out the administrative fee when they submit their respective portion of the resale application through the HDB Resale Portal.

How much does it cost?

What is the mode of payment?

There are two accepted payment methods for the administrative fee.

• Via the HDB Resale Portal, you can pay with a credit card (Mastercard or Visa). You can also utilise any of the supported mobile payment apps like PayNow, NETSPay, UOB Mighty, DBS PayLah!, OCBC Pay Anyone, and POSB/DBS digibank.
• If you have engaged a licensed property agent, you can pay with GIRO using their Estate Agent Toolkit.

2. Legal fees

When do you pay?

After HDB has received the resale application from both the buyer and seller, you will be asked to endorse the resale documents via the HDB Resale Portal. This is when you need to pay the legal fees.

How much does it cost?

It depends on whether you’re engaging HDB’s solicitor to act for you, or you’re hiring a private lawyer to handle the necessary paperwork.

Hire HDB legal service

If you want to get a quick estimate of the legal fees, you can use HDB’s Legal Fees Enquiry Facility.

Hire private legal service

If you’re hiring a private attorney, the conveyancing fee for the discharge of housing loan is still the same as it will be paid to HDB. But for the rest, it will depend on the lawyer. Thus, you will want to first discuss their fees before appointing one to act on your behalf.

What is the mode of payment?

There are only two accepted payment methods for the legal fees, namely Cashier’s Order and NETS.

3. Property tax

When do you pay?

The annual property tax is usually paid in January for the whole year. So you’ll need to submit the tax payment receipt during the flat sale completion appointment.

How much does it cost?

The property tax is calculated by multiplying your flat’s Annual Value (AV) with the applicable tax rate. The AV is your flat’s estimated gross rent for one year if it has been leased out. IRAS determines it based on prevailing market rates.

In 2020, the median AV for a four-room flat is $9,600.

For owner-occupied homes

These are the tax rates for residential properties where the owner lives in it. In this article, we only include the tax rates for properties with an AV of up to $55,000 since HDB flats in general have a lower AV.

Annual Value	Tax rate	Property tax payable
First $8,000	0 per cent	$0
Next $47,000	4 per cent	$1,880

With an AV of $9,600, this means that the property tax is $64.

For non-owner-occupied homes

These are the tax rates for residential properties that you rent out.

Annual Value	Tax rate	Property tax payable
First $30,000	10 per cent	$3,000
Next $15,000	12 per cent	$1,800

You can use the IRAS Interactive Property Tax Calculators to find out the property tax you need to pay.

What is the mode of payment?

The preferred method of payment is GIRO. Other acceptable payment modes include:

• PayNow
• AXS
• Internet banking
• SingPost

4. Service and Conservancy Charges (S&CC)

When do you pay?

You’ll have to pay your Service and Conservancy Charges (S&CC) up to the day of resale completion, and you need to settle this before the resale completion appointment.

Any other fees you may need to pay

On top of the above-mentioned fees, you may have to incur things like the SSD and agent fees.

1. Seller’s Stamp Duty (SSD)

The Seller’s Stamp Duty (SSD) is payable if you sell your property within three years. So for most HDB owners, they don’t have to pay this due to the five-year MOP.

So in the special case that you need to sell your HDB flat within three years, you’ll have to pay for the SSD.

You may also have to pay the SSD if you’re transferring the ownership of your HDB flat.

How much does it cost?

Date of flat purchase	Period of ownership	SSD rate based on purchase price/ market value (whichever is higher)
From 11 March 2017 and onwards	Up to one year	12 per cent
	Over one year, up to two years	8 per cent
	Over two years, up to three years	4 per cent
	Over three years	No SSD payable

What is the mode of payment?

There are several ways of paying the Seller’s Stamp Duty. This includes:

• GIRO
• AXS
• FAST via DBS/POSB account
• eNETS
• Internet Banking
• SingPost
• Cheque/Cashier’s Order

2. Resale levy

You’ll need to pay the resale levy if you’re buying a second subsidised flat or certain Executive Condos (EC).

You can find out if you need to do so when you register your Intent to Sell at the HDB Resale Portal.

Learn more about the resale levy here .

3. Property agent commission

If you’re using a property agent to sell your HDB flat, you’ll have to pay the agent commission too. While there’s no fixed rate as to how much you need to pay your agent, the common practice is that as a seller, the rate to pay is 2 per cent of the HDB flat selling price.

This article was first published in 99.co.