Five-room flats will not qualify for Lease Buyback Scheme

The Lease Buyback Scheme (LBS) was not extended to bigger flats like five-room flats because the government does not want to see Singaporeans living in homes bigger than what they really need, said Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean yesterday and reported in the media. He added homeowners of such units already have many other options such as renting out rooms and right sizing their homes which they can consider first. Mr Teo was speaking at a post-national day rally dialogue held at Sengkang Community club, where some residents called for the scheme to be extended to bigger HDB flats, or even to private property. Patrick Yeo, for instance, urged for the proceeds from the scheme to be tied to the propertys asset value, so that Singaporeans living in larger flats need not save so much for the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Minimum Sum. Meanwhile, another resident called for the scheme to be extended to executive flats, which are also HDB flats. Separately, Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan said the government is looking at ways to make LBS more flexible. He was speaking during a post-National Day Rally dialogue for young people in Sembawang GRC yesterday, where he said scheme may be adjusted to retain more or fewer years of the lease on their flat. MND will announce the revisions this week, Mr Khaw added. Muneerah Bee, Senior Journalist at PropertyGuru, edited and wrote this story. To contact her about this or other stories emailmuneerah@propertyguru.com.sg

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