BTO Flat Applicants who Purchased Flats as Fiancé and Fiancée but Do Not Subsequently Submit Marriage Certificate

Mr Speaker, Sir, Housing and Development Board (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 three-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 three-month extension and exercise flexibility on a case-by-case basis.

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 actions by HDB.

As of 31 December 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 compulsory acquisition 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-19 period.

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

I thank the Minister for the response. I am wondering if you could just elaborate a little bit on the reason why the stipulation that an original member of the application has to be included. I say this because I have had residents that have made a request because they no longer ended up with the original intended partner, actually try to apply with another new partner – and all the parties involved agreed with the process – but because, of course, the new partner is not listed in the original application, this was rejected.

Essentially, with a break-up of the fiancé-fiancée relationship, there is a breach of the fundamental eligibility condition of the family nucleus to buy a flat. Hence, the retention of the flat is not allowed and the flat is to be surrendered to HDB. If the flat owners refuse to surrender, then, of course, HDB will compulsorily acquire the flat.

And then, specific to the question that Assoc Prof Lim raised, the only exception to allow one party to retain the flat is with parents who were originally listed in the application for purchase of the flat, as the retaining party with his or her parents would have qualified to buy the flat as a family nucleus even without the couple's marriage. So, that is the idea. Because with the other family member, they would have qualified on their own even without marriage.