THE Housing Board will introduce mandatory resale checklists for housing agents handling resale HDB flat transactions from May 1.

The checklists cover a list of key policies and procedures that housing agents will need to advise resale flat buyers and sellers before they commit to a resale flat deal - much like what insurance agents have to do with their clients before sealing a policy.

'This is part of HDB's ongoing efforts to ensure that buyers and sellers are aware of the relevant HDB purchase and financing policies when buying or selling an HDB flat,' said the Board in a statement on Monday.

An HDB spokesman added that the checklist will provide housing agents with a standard list of important items to highlight to their clients, so that the buyers or sellers can make informed decisions before they commit to buy or sell their flats.

'It would also prevent situations whereby the resale transaction has to be cancelled or delayed due to miscommunication and ignorance about policies,' she said.

The spokesman said the HDB received about 30,000 applications for resale flats annually in the last two years. About 92 per cent of these engaged the services of housing agents.

The new requirement would therefore benefit the majority of resale flat buyers and sellers, said the HDB spokesman.

Under the new measure, housing agents will have to submit the completed checklists to HDB together with the resale application.

For buyers and sellers who want to handle their own own resale transactions without housing agents, they are advised to use the resale checklist for their own planning but they need not have to submit it to the HDB.

The checklist covers a wide-ranging scope - from eligibility to sell, financial planning to payment of resale levy and upgrading cost.

Housing agents are required to tick all the boxes in the checklist and witness the signing by the buyer or seller.

Applications that do not meet the new requirement will be rejected, said HDB, warning that there will be serious penalties for false declarations.

A person who makes a false statement can be fined up to $5,000 or be jailed up to six months, or both, if convicted.

A false statement made in a statutory declaration is deemed as an offence under the Penal Code, which carries a penalty of up to three years' jail, or a fine, or both.

If a housing agent is found to have made a false declaration, HDB will report him or her to the Police and Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore.

Asked if the checklist was to rein in errant housing agents, the HDB spokesman said: " We would like to highlight that resale flat buyers and sellers who engage the services of housing agents often rely on their agents for information on HDB resale policy and procedures, and also to guide them through the resale process.

'Some housing agents could be new and unfamiliar to HDB policies and rules, and the resale checklist will help guide these housing agents when they handle resale transactions. There has also been feedback and suggestions from the public that agents should highlight certain important points to their clients.'

The checklist move is welcomed by would-be sellers and buyers.

'With the checklist, sellers and buyers cannot claim they 'don't know', or if they do, then the property agent is responsible.

A property is something in which you can live out a lifetime... these checklists won't add much to overall paperwork,' said fabritech02 in a posting on straitstimes.com.

But another reader sees it as more red tape.

'There is already so (much) paper work, now some more!' he rued.

Another reader posted this comment: 'This is not an effective measure...housing agents are going to put a tick mark in the checklist and submit and tell the parties to say 'yes' when HDB calls.'

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HOW IT WORKS

» HDB's statement & resale checklists