Written Answer by Ministry of National Development on application for purchase or rental of HDB flat by applicants having shared custody of children

Nov 1, 2021

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Minister for National Development for each year in the past 10 years (a) how many applications with applicants having shared care and control of their children were received by HDB to purchase or rent a flat respectively; and (b) of these, what is the number of applications that were (i) rejected as applicants were unable to obtain mutual consent from their ex-spouse to list their children for the application and (ii) approved without requiring the mutual consent of their ex-spouse.

Answer:

Divorcees with shared care and control of their children have an equal right to list the children in their application to buy or rent an HDB flat. As any individual is only allowed to be listed in one HDB flat application, we require divorced parents to come to an agreement before either party lists their child in a flat application.

Similar to other families, divorced parents who have obtained their ex-spouse’s agreement to list their children in the flat application may buy or rent an HDB flat if they meet the prevailing eligibility conditions. HDB does not specifically track the number of such applications.

Those who are unable to reach an agreement with their ex-spouse can approach HDB to discuss their options. HDB will review each case and is prepared to exercise flexibility based on individual circumstances, such as financial hardship and lack of family support, to ensure that both parties have options to provide housing for themselves and their children.

From January 2016 to September 2021, HDB received 20 appeals from divorcees without ex-spousal consent to buy an HDB flat with their children, of which 13 were approved (see Table 1). HDB also approved seven such cases to rent a flat from HDB from January 2018 to September 2021 (see Table 2). Data on such appeals to buy or rent an HDB flat in prior years is not available, as HDB did not specifically track such appeals previously.

Table 2: Number of approvals for divorced parents with shared care and control of their children to rent a flat from HDB, without ex-spouse’s consent