Changes to Housing Developers (Control and Licensing) Act effective May 25

AMENDMENTS to the Housing Developers (Control and Licensing) Act to improve safeguards and provide more information to prospective buyers of private residential properties will take effect from this month, the Ministry of National Development (MND) said on Monday.

The legislative amendments - finalised through a series of consultations with members of the public and industry stakeholders - were approved by Parliament in April. Among them is the weekly collection and publication of transaction data.

From May 25, housing developers are required to submit weekly detailed transaction information - such as sales volumes and transacted prices of individual units in their building projects - to the Controller of Housing.

Developers must submit this information to the Controller of Housing within five days of the end of each preceding week. This information will be published on the Urban Redevelopment Authority's website weekly from June 5, 2015.

Secondly, the Option to Purchase and Sale & Purchase Agreement forms, which are standard forms prescribed under the Housing Developers Rules, will be amended to enhance the safeguards for purchasers of private residential properties. For instance, developers must indicate the value of any benefits offered to buyers.

The amendments to both forms will take effect on July 20, 2015.

Finally, MND is introducing the Housing Developers (Show Unit) Rules to ensure that all show units provided by developers are accurate depictions of the housing units offered for sale, such as making sure that the floor area of the show unit is the same as that of the actual housing unit, and that all external and structural walls to be built in the actual unit are depicted in the show unit.

The Show Unit Rules will take effect on July 20, 2015.