HDB introduces flat eligibility letter

It will replace the HDB Loan Eligibility letter.

Beginning 9 May, the Housing and Development Board will issue an HDB Flat Eligibility letter to homebuyers instead of an HDB Loan Eligibility (HLE) letter to inform them “up front” of their eligibility for a new or resale flat purchase.

According to HDB< the letter will provide flat homebuyers “with a holistic understanding and assessment of their housing and financing options before they commence their home buying journey.”

“With the implementation of the HFE letter, HDB will retrieve personal particulars from Myinfo for eligibility assessment. This will provide flat applicants with greater convenience and reduce the number of documents they will need to submit to HDB,” the agency said.

“To facilitate the link-up, HDB will streamline its income assessment guidelines, including the income assessment period. HDB will also adjust the way it assesses households’ eligibility for housing subsidies for greater consistency,” the agency added.

As part of its streamlining, HDB will standardise the income assessment period to 12 months instead of the most recent three or six months.

On assessing a household’s eligibility for subsidy, HDB will look into the “core family nucleus,” which is formed by the core applicants and core occupiers.

“Moving forward, all members of the core nucleus, including core occupiers, will enjoy the housing subsidy, and the housing grants will be shared among the core nucleus, for first-time applicants. Correspondingly, second-timer applicants in the core family nucleus who had previously enjoyed a housing subsidy will now be required to pay their resale levy before collecting the keys to their second subsidised flat,”  HDB said.

“For the majority of households, there will be no change in the overall grant amount enjoyed, as their eligibility for housing grants will continue to be assessed on a household basis,” HDB added.

Other conditions HDB will look at include the continuous employment condition for the Enhanced CPF Housing Grant (EHG) and the home-for-life condition for EHG.

“The assessment of household income and ownership of private property for subsidy eligibility will continue to be based on all persons listed in the application,” HDB said.