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With the cost of housing in Singapore soaring, people contemplating divorce must consider how that would affect their matrimonial home. 

To begin with, both parties have the right to work this out between themselves if they can. Some of the options they might be able to agree on are as follows: 

• One party could transfer their interest in the property to the other spouse and move out, allowing the other spouse to continue living there. 
• They could agree to sell the property and split the proceeds between the two of them in specific percentages. 

If the two of you are able to agree on how to handle your matrimonial home in settling the divorce, that decision will be recorded by the court in a hearing regarding ancillary matters.

On the other hand, if the two of you cannot come to an agreement, it will be up to the court to decide how to handle the division of your matrimonial home, along with your other assets.

In any case, you should find out what your housing options are if you end up having to move out of your home. 

This article will cover the various HDB housing grants and schemes that you might be able to use once you’re divorced. We will also cover other housing options that may be available to you as a divorcee. 

Table of Contents

Housing Options for Divorcees in Singapore

Buying a BTO Flat Using ASSIST

Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme (PHHS)

Buying a Resale Flat

Eligibility Requirements for Buying a Resale Flat

Things to Remember Once You’ve Bought Your Resale Flat

Singapore Housing Grants

Enhanced CPF Housing Grant (EHG) (Singles)

Staggered Down Payment Scheme

Proximity Housing Grant (PHG)

Family Category

Singles Category

Public Rental Scheme

Family Scheme

Joint Singles Scheme

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Housing Options for Divorcees in Singapore

In March 2018, the law was changed to allow divorcees to buy or own a subsidised flat in Singapore once they are legally divorced. This of course depends on them being eligible in the first place to buy such a flat. Therefore, if you are contemplating divorce, you may decide to either buy a new BTO flat using the Assistance Scheme for Second-Timers (ASSIST) or you may want to buy a resale flat. 

You are also allowed to apply for whichever housing grant would be appropriate, or if you won’t have the financial means to buy a new BTO flat with ASSIST or if you are not eligible to use the scheme, you can likely rent a flat. If you decide to purchase a new BTO flat, there are housing options available to you while you wait for it to be built. All these options are discussed in detail below. 

Buying a BTO Flat Using ASSIST

Singapore’s ASSIST scheme helps the odds of divorced parents getting a BTO flat in the Housing Development Board’s (HDB) computer balloting process that applicants for flats must participate in. It helps that up to 5% of 2-room Flexi flats plus 3-room BTO flats in non-mature housing estates are held for such applicants during sales launches under the ASSIST scheme.

Furthermore, if you are applying for a BTO flat for the first time, you will also get two ballot chances, instead of just one, which is what second-time buyers get. 

However, there is no 100% guarantee that you will be successful getting a flat. But should you fail to succeed after trying two or more times as a first-time applicant for a BTO flat in a non-mature housing estate, you will get one extra ballot chance for each of your following applications. 

Eligibility Requirements for ASSIST

To qualify, you must: 

• Have one or more biological child(ren) as a result of your marriage or an adopted child 18 years of age or younger; and
• Not own any interest in a private residential property (aside from your matrimonial home/property) or an HDB flat after your divorce is finalized.

You do not need to meet any age criterion to qualify for the ASSIST scheme.

However, you must have legal custody of your child(ren) to qualify for ASSIST. This means you cannot qualify for ASSIST if you have no child(ren) as a result of your marriage or if you don’t have custody of your child(ren).

Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme (PHHS)

If you have no place to live while you’re waiting until your BTO flat is finished, you can use Singapore’s Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme (PPHS) to rent a 3- or 4-room flat. 

The eligibility requirements for the PPHS are as follows: 

• You must be a citizen of Singapore and have another citizen or Permanent Resident of Singapore in your household;
• You and/or the other PPHS flat occupants do not own or co-own an existing HDB flat. If any one of you are current co-owners of an HDB flat with your sibling(s) and/or parents (whom you haven’t listed on your application), you are allowed to apply for PPHS but would need to give up your ownership in that flat within six months of gaining possession of your PPHS flat;
• You and the other proposed occupants of the PPHS flat must be listed on your application. But you all can only be listed on one application for a PPHS flat within the same month; and
• If you plan to share the PPHS flat with some other eligible household, the total number of proposed occupants must not be more than six in the rented 3- or 4-room PPHS flat. Exceptions would be if the added occupants are the result of marriage or subsequent births. 

Buying a Resale Flat

Another option is to buy a resale flat. You are allowed to do this even if you do not have custody of your child(ren).

Eligibility Requirements for Buying a Resale Flat

The requirements you need to meet will depend on which type of scheme you are buying the resale flat under. But if you are divorced and planning to use the Single Singapore Citizen Scheme to buy your resale flat, you would need to meet these criteria: 

• Must be a citizen of Singapore
• Must be at least 35 years of age
• If you need an HDB loan, you must already have an HDB Loan Eligibility Letter (HLE) before receiving an Option to Purchase. If you need a bank loan, you must already have a Letter of Offer prior to exercising an Option to Purchase.
• Must meet the requirements of the Singapore Permanent Resident Quota Policy as well as the Ethnic Integration Policy on the date of your resale flat application, which you can check out here

Things to Remember Once You’ve Bought Your Resale Flat

There are several things you need to take care of once you’ve bought your resale flat. Most importantly, if you have any ownership interest in a private residential property, you need to dispose of it within six months of owning the resale flat. 

So, if the home you owned or co-owned when you were married is a private residence, you must dispose of your share in that home within six months of owning the resale flat. 

Singapore Housing Grants

Enhanced CPF Housing Grant (EHG) (Singles)

If you are a first-time buyer of an HDB flat and have never before received a housing grant, you may qualify for an Enhanced CPF Housing Grant (EHG) (Singles) of as much as $40,000 when buying a new flat. 

This grant is available to those purchasing one of the following: 

• A 2-room Flexi BTO flat in a non-mature housing estate on a 99-year lease
• A 2-room Flexi BTO flat on a shorter lease
• A resale flat (of no more than 5 rooms if using the Single Singapore Citizen Scheme, and any resale flat if using Singapore’s Joint Singles Scheme).

You must meet the following requirements to qualify for the EHG (Singles):

• The gross monthly income on average for your household for the 12 months prior to submitting your flat application is not over $4,500
• You and every other co-applicant and occupants are all first-time applicants. (Parents/children who are eligible and are first-time applicants purchasing a resale flat with their parents/children who are second-time applicants, or have received two housing subsidies already, are also eligible for the EHG)
• You have been continuously working for 12 months prior to submitting your flat application and are continuing to work
• There are still 20 years or more left on the lease. Also, the flat must have sufficient time left on the lease to last the youngest buyer until they reach 95 years of age in order to get the full grant. If not, the grant must be pro-rated. 
• You and your co-flat applicants must have not owned or gotten rid of any of the following types of properties within 30 months prior to applying for a new flat:
  • Private residential property to include privatised ECs and HUDC flats
  • Residential or commercial building
  • Residential house
  • Undeveloped land

Satisfying all the requirements makes you eligible for a grant. The amount of the EHG grant caps out at $40,000. The precise amount granted to you depends on the following:

• The gross monthly income on average for your household for the 12 months prior to submitting your flat application; and
• The total incomes of every working applicant and occupant of the household will be assessed. Therefore, families making less income will receive a larger grant. 

Staggered Down Payment Scheme

For Those Planning to Buy a New BTO Flat Using ASSIST

If you are under financial pressure, you may use the Staggered Down Payment Scheme to make two instalment payments for your Down Payment.

You will pay half of your down payment when signing the Lease Agreement, which is typically signed within four months of booking the flat. You will pay the balance when taking possession of your new flat. For details of the payment structure under the Staggered Down Payment Scheme, read the Payment Structure.

To be eligible for this payment scheme, you must have:

• Bought an unfinished 2- or 3-room flat during an HDB’s sales launch in a non-mature estate. You will meet this requirement if you were successful in balloting for a 3-room flat using the ASSIST scheme. 
• Not sold a flat you currently own or co-own, or if the sale of your current flat has not been legally completed when you applied for the new flat. This requirement will be met if the sale of your matrimonial home remains pending when you submit your application for the new BTO flat using the ASSIST scheme. 

Proximity Housing Grant (PHG)

For Those Planning on buying an HDB Resale Flat 

You may also be eligible for a Proximity Housing Grant (PHG) if you buy an HDB resale flat to live in with your child(ren) or parents, or if it is located no more than 4km from their private residential home or HDB flat. But you will only qualify for a PHG if you haven’t previously gotten a PHG. 

There are two separate categories of this scheme that you might qualify for: Family or Singles. The amount of your grant depends on which category you apply for, and what your living arrangements will be. 

Family Category

If you are the custodial parent of your child(ren), you may qualify for the Family category if you meet the following requirements: 

• You are a citizen of Singapore
• You are older than 21; and
• Your application includes the child(ren) that you are caring for and have legal custody and control of. If your child(ren) is/are under age 21 and you share custody with your ex-spouse, you are required to get a written agreement from your ex-spouse before listing the child(ren) on your application for a flat.

There are two separate grant amounts that you may qualify for under the Family category, which will depend on the living arrangement you adopt: 

• Up to $30,000 may be granted if you plan on living with your child(ren) that you are the custodial parent of, or your parents; or
• Up to $20,000 may be granted if you plan on living no more than 4km from your adult child(ren) who are older than 35 and single, or are married and not living with you, or your parents. 

Singles Category

If you are a divorcee without custody of your child(ren) or have no child(ren), you can apply as a Single if you are older than 35 and applying to buy a resale flat using one of the schemes listed below: 

• Single Singapore Citizen Scheme
• Joint Singles Scheme
• Public Scheme (if you include your parents on your resale application as occupants or co-applicants)

There are two separate grant amounts that you may qualify for under the Singles category, which will depend on the living arrangement you adopt: 

• Up to $15,000 may be granted if you plan on living with your parents; or
• Up to $10,000 may be granted if you plan on living no more than 4km from your adult child(ren) who are older than 35 and single or married and not living with you, or your parents

Further Criteria for Both Family and Singles

Further criteria pertaining to both categories are as follows: 

• One of your children or parents making you eligible for the PHG scheme must be a Permanent Resident of Singapore 
• If you are purchasing a resale flat in order to live close to your child(ren) or parents who live in a private residential home without owning it, that home must be owned by an immediate family member of theirs (i.e., siblings, children, parents, or parents-in-law)
• The resale flat you plan on buying must have 20 or more years remaining on its lease

Public Rental Scheme

For Those Renting a Subsidized Flat

You may want to rent a subsidised flat using the Public Rental Scheme in the event that you cannot buy a resale or BTO flat using the ASSIST scheme. 

The Public Rental Scheme involves two separate schemes, the Family Scheme, and the Joint Singles Scheme. 

Family Scheme

The eligibility requirements for the Family scheme are as follows: 

• You must be a citizen of Singapore
• Your family unit must be with at least one other citizen of Singapore, or a Permanent Resident of Singapore comprised of: 
  • If you are not the custodial parent of any child(ren) from your marriage and you are planning to live with your parents; or
  • You and your child(ren) whom you are the custodial parent of who takes care them and has control over. If your child(ren) are not yet 21 years of age and you share care and control with your ex-spouse, you must get his/her agreement in writing before you can add your child(ren) to your application for the flat. 

Joint Singles Scheme

If you are not the custodial parent of your child(ren) or have no child(ren) from when you were married, you may qualify for the Joint Singles Scheme. To qualify you must meet the following requirements: 

• You are not planning on living with your parents.
• You and the other occupant(s) listed on the application must be citizens of Singapore
• If you are planning to rent the flat with another person, you both must be single.
  • You are considered to be single if divorced and 35 years of age or older. The other occupant is considered to be single if he/she is not married and 35 years of age or older; legally separated or divorced from his/her spouse with the legal documents proving this; or widowed or an orphan with one parent at least having been a Singapore citizen or Permanent Resident. 
• The total monthly gross income of your household should not be more than $1,500. However, even if your household income exceeds $1,500, you are still allowed to apply for consideration. 
• You and the occupant(s) you’ve listed on your application should not currently be tenants or essential occupants of an HDB flat
• Neither you nor your occupants should own:
  • Or have an estate property or own an interest in one when submitting your application;
  • An HDB flat or a flat under the Design, Build & Sell Scheme;
  • A local property or a private overseas property, residential or not;
  • An Executive Condo (EC)

As discussed in this article, getting divorced may significantly affect your living arrangements afterwards. Therefore, you need to understand the implications of proceeding with your divorce before you decide whether to move forward or not. 

To help you make an informed decision regarding your divorce, you may want to consult with our divorce lawyer partners. This way you can get the advice you need when evaluating your options. You need to know how your marital assets, including your matrimonial home, may be divided and how child custody may be determined. By getting sound legal advice ahead of time, you will be in a better position to make decisions about your living arrangements post-divorce as well. 

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