The Pioneer Generation Joint Committee could look into the Lease Buyback Scheme in order to fine-tune this monetisation option and provide more clarity on its rules, according to media reports.
Under the scheme, seniors may sell the lease of their HDB flat to the government, while keeping the 30-year portion. The profit can be used to top up their CPF Retirement Accounts for payouts. Additionally, the scheme has recently been extended to four-room flats, giving more homeowners the option to take it up.
A common concern over the scheme is outliving the 30-year lease, while some seniors want to retain shorter leases, said Speaker of Parliament and Committee Chair Halimah Yacob.
One option to address this problem is to be flexible on the homeowners’ remaining lease, said Madam Halimah, after a dialogue with the Muslim community last Saturday.
Housing is one of the top concerns fielded by participants, noted Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Yaacob Ibrahim, who chaired the event.
In particular, they wanted to know what would happen if they outlived the 30-year lease under Lease Buyback Scheme, and how much money they could earn from it.
“Our response to them is, we will certainly study this together with the Housing and Development Board,” added Mr Yaacob.
“I think this is a real ground-up concern because the Malay community has high home ownership and therefore they want to see how they can monetise the flat without losing the flat altogether, or a place for them to stay,” he added.
Image source: Mailer diablo; Wikimedia Commons
Muneerah Bee, Senior Journalist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email muneerah@propertyguru.com.sg
