You will be able to check your eligibility through HDB's own process and record the result.
Before you can buy an HDB flat, you need HDB's own answer on what your household can buy, which grants it can get and how much HDB will lend. That answer is the HDB Flat Eligibility letter (HFE letter). Every HDB buyer needs one, and getting it is the first formal step.
The earlier lessons in this module were your own reading of the rules. That reading helps you plan, but it is not enough to buy. A seller will not grant an option on a flat because your notes look promising, and HDB wants its own answer first. Farah and Hakim's earlier notes said they should be eligible for a resale flat, with a few possible grants and an HDB loan, but they still had to apply for the letter.
The HFE letter is HDB's assessment of your household before you buy. It states three things:
whether your household can buy a flat, and which types which CPF housing grants it may receive, and how much whether it can take an HDB loan, and up to what amount
You need the letter before you apply for a new flat in a sales launch. You also need it before a seller can grant you an option to buy a resale flat. Everything later in the process waits for the letter, so apply early.
You apply on the HDB Flat Portal and log in with Singpass. Everyone in the application must log in and give consent, so agree a time with your partner or co-applicants before you start.
HDB asks about your household, your citizenship, any property you own or have sold, and your income. Have your documents ready before you log in. If you are an employee, much of your income information comes from your CPF contribution records, but HDB may still ask for payslips or an employment letter. If you are self-employed or earn commission, have your IRAS notices of assessment and recent statements ready. Hakim gathered a year of payslips showing his commissions, because his CPF records alone did not explain why his pay changed from month to month.
Declare any overseas property honestly, including property you have already sold. If HDB later finds a property you did not declare, it can cost you the flat. Hakim declared his old overseas apartment on the form, even though he sold it years ago.
HDB tells you how long the assessment usually takes. It may ask for more documents during that time, so check the portal and your email. Until the letter arrives, do not book viewings you cannot act on. A seller who wants to grant an option now will not wait for your assessment.
Read the letter line by line, the way you would read a bank offer. When their letter arrived, Farah and Hakim went through it with a pen.
The flat types section shows what you can buy, both new and resale. Check that the flat you actually want is on the list.
The grants section lists each grant with an amount. Compare it with the list you made in lesson 2.2, "CPF housing grants: who qualifies and where the money goes". If a grant you expected is missing, the letter or the portal usually gives the reason. It is often your income or a past property.
The HDB loan section gives the maximum loan HDB would offer. This figure covers HDB's loan only. A bank loan and its limits are a separate question, covered in module 4.
The letter has a validity date and is valid for a set period, so your plans must fit inside it. For a new flat, you must apply in a launch before the letter expires. For a resale flat, you must get an option and complete the purchase before it expires. If the letter lapses, you have to apply again, and by then your income or the rules may have changed.
If you are a year or more away from buying, you can do the same checks yourself. Use HDB's eligibility, grant and loan pages with your own figures. A self-check covers the same three sections as the letter: flat types, grants and loan. For each one, write down your answer and the rule on the HDB page that gave it. Label the note clearly as a self-check and date it.
When you apply later, compare your self-check with the real letter. Wherever they differ, find out why. A difference usually means you misread a rule.
Your eligibility note should fit on one page. It lists the flat types you can buy and every grant, with its amount and any condition attached. It says whether you can take an HDB loan, and up to how much. It also gives the validity date and says whether the details come from an HFE letter or a self-check. Allow about 25 minutes to read the letter and write the note, plus however long the application itself takes.
Farah and Hakim's note (every figure in it is an example) said they were eligible to buy new and resale flats, covering all the types they were considering. Their grants were the Enhanced CPF Housing Grant and the Family Grant, at the amounts stated in the letter. They could also get the Proximity Housing Grant, but only if their new flat was within the distance HDB sets of Farah's parents. They were eligible for an HDB loan, up to the maximum loan amount stated in the letter. They wrote the expiry date in red at the top of the page and set a reminder for two months before it.
They also added a line about a resale flat they liked in Bedok, about 1.5km from Farah's parents (an invented example). The Proximity Housing Grant depends on living near Farah's parents, within a distance HDB sets, so they need to check the flat with HDB's Check Distance for Proximity Housing Grant e-service before relying on that grant. HDB gives the current distance rule on its website.
In the activity below, you'll write that note for your own household.
Apply for your HDB Flat Eligibility letter, or work through the same checks yourself, then write an eligibility note listing the flats, grants, loan eligibility and validity date.
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