Ans: A person who owns an HDB flat is not allowed to take over the ownership of an inherited HDB flat as he is unable to hold 2 HDB flats at the same time.
Qn: If a man already owns/co-owns a private property, will he be forced to sell one of his houses if his parents wills their HDB property to them upon their deaths?
Ans: Generally, for a Singapore Citizen household, as a private residential property owner, they can take over an HDB flat which has already fulfilled its minimum occupation period without disposing the private property. However, they are required to physically occupy the HDB flat.
General Rules Apply [not exhaustive]
HDB flat owners and listed occupiers must have physically occupied their flat for a period of time, referred to as Minimum Occupation Period (MOP), before they are eligible to purchase local private residential or overseas property. This is regardless if the flat has been fully paid or with outstanding mortgage loan. The MOP to acquire an interest in private residential property depends on the mode of purchase, flat type and application date to purchase the flat. The various MOPs can be found in our HDB InfoWeb enclosed in the link below.
http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/
We also wish to highlight that with effect from 12 Jan 2013, Singapore Permanent Resident (SPR) flat owners and/or essential family members (regardless of citizenship) of an HDB flat who intend to acquire a private residential property in Singapore (after meeting the minimum occupation period of their HDB flat) will have to notify HDB before they exercise the Option to Purchase for the property and they are to dispose of their flat within 6 months of the completion of the purchase of the private property.
