Thursday, March 29, 2012

Latest changes to HDB ruling (Mar-12)

Announced Mar-2012.


If buyers change their mind after putting down an option fee to purchase a flat from HDB, they will now be barred from buying new BTO or resale flats with housing grants for a year.

The ban also extends to new DBSS and EC.

# Currently, upon booking the flat, buyers pay an option fee that ranges from $250 for a studio apartment, to $2,000 for a 4-room flat or bigger.



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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Changes to rules on Sublet of Hawker/Mkt stalls

Effective from 1-Apr-2012 :


1) Subletting of hawker and wet market stalls will no longer be allowed

.ie. Hawkers who rented stalls at market rate from the Govt, then sublet the stall to another tenant at a higher price, and pocket the difference.

Current stallholders have up three years to comply, or when existing Tenancy Agreement expires from 1-Apr onwards.

The rule change will affect only non-subsidised stalls - it is "illegal" for subsidised stallholders to sublet their stalls.



2) New policy - 'Joint Tenancy'.

ie. each stall can have two tenants, as long as each stallholder personally operates the stall for at least four hours a day - with no full-day subletting



3) Min/Reserve rent

No more Min/Reserve rent will be set. Vacant stalls will be allocated to the highest bidder even if the price is low, as long as there is more than one bid.




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Sunday, March 18, 2012

SRS

Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS) is a voluntary scheme to encourage individuals to save for retirement, over and above their CPF savings

- Max yearly contribution is $12,750

- Tax relief allowed is the actual SRS contribution made

- Can be used for investment (eg. Unit Trust). Any cash portion remaining in SRS will earn standard CPF-IA rates (ie. 0.05% pa)

- Withdrawals are penalty-free only after the statutory retirement age (currently at 62)


Eg.
- if withdrawal is after retirement age, only 50% of the withdrawal amount will be subjected to tax
- if withdrawal is before retirement age, 100% of the withdrawal amount will be subjected to tax, inclusive of the 5% penalty


- Withdrawal can be spread over 10 years from the date of your first penalty-free withdrawal.

- Based on current personal income tax rate, 1st 20k of income is tax-free .ie. to avoid getting tax, max withdrawal should be < 20k/yr

Friday, March 2, 2012

HDB Executive Condo (EC)

Eligibility

Same as application for new flats, in addition :

# Income Ceiling
Your average gross monthly household income must not exceed $12,000

# Ownership in Private Property
Must not own/dispose/has an estate or interest in private property :
- within 30 months before the date of EC application, and
- between application date and taking possession of the EC

# Ownership in HDB
- MOP of 5 yrs before the date of EC application
- must dispose of the flat within 6 months from TOP

# Ownership in EC
- need to wait out a 30-month period from disposal of current EC, before the date of new EC application

Second-timers not required to Pay Resale Levy when buying EC