Real Estate & Conveyancing

A conveyancing lawyer handles the legal side of transferring ownership. They review the contract, search the land register for mortgages, caveats and other problems, deal with your bank and the CPF Board, arrange stamp duty, and register the transfer with the Singapore Land Authority.

An Option to Purchase gives the buyer the exclusive right to buy a property at an agreed price within a fixed period. For resale private property, the buyer usually pays an option fee of about 1% and has a period of around two to three weeks to exercise the option, usually by paying a further 4%.

The usual sequence is: obtain an Option to Purchase, let your lawyer run searches and secure your loan, exercise the option, pay stamp duty, and then complete by paying the balance in exchange for the title and keys. With a bank loan, completion is commonly around ten to twelve weeks after the contract.

Developers selling uncompleted homes must use a standard form of option and sale and purchase agreement. You pay a booking fee, commonly 5%, receive the agreement, and must sign within a set time. The rest of the price is then paid in stages as construction progresses.

Not always. HDB's legal department can act for buyers taking an HDB housing loan. If there is a bank loan, an existing bank mortgage to redeem, a divorce or a death involved, you will need a private conveyancing lawyer.

Buyers pay buyer's stamp duty on every purchase, and may also pay additional buyer's stamp duty on residential property depending on their residency status and how many homes they own. Sellers of residential property may pay seller's stamp duty if they sell within four years of buying (for purchases from 4 July 2025).

Joint tenants own the whole property together with no separate shares, and when one dies the survivor automatically takes it, whatever the will says. Tenants in common each own a defined share, equal or unequal, which passes under their will or the intestacy rules when they die.

When you refinance with a new bank, a lawyer on that bank's panel discharges the old mortgage and registers the new one with the Singapore Land Authority. Notice to the old bank is usually needed two to three months ahead, and penalties may apply if you are still in a lock-in period.