Conveyancing for Selling a Home in Singapore
Selling has fewer deadlines than buying but more moving parts underneath: an outstanding loan, CPF to refund, and a buyer whose bank sets the pace.
A sale looks simpler than a purchase and often is, but the money underneath it is more complicated than sellers expect.
Granting the Option
The buyer pays a fee for the exclusive right to buy from you within a stated period. What that document says about the completion date, about what is included, and about what happens if the buyer walks away is worth reading properly rather than accepting as standard.
What is actually owed before you see anything
Three things come off the sale price before the balance reaches you.
The outstanding mortgage is redeemed on completion. Your lender provides a redemption figure, which is time-sensitive.
The CPF monies you used to buy the property are refunded to your CPF account, with accrued interest, not paid to you in cash. For a property held a long time, the accrued interest alone can be substantial.
Costs and disbursements come off as well.
The number left over is the one that matters, particularly if you are buying onwards. It is worked out early for exactly that reason.
The buyer’s bank sets much of the pace
Most of the work in a sale is correspondence between solicitors and lenders: requisitions to the authorities, undertakings between the banks, and the completion account. Very little of it should reach you.
How we help
How we help
Draft or review the Option you are granting
An agent's standard form is a starting point, not a finished document. The completion date, what is included in the sale, and what happens if the buyer defaults are all worth getting right.
Redeem the mortgage
Obtaining the redemption figure from your lender and making sure the loan is discharged on completion. Timing this wrongly costs interest that nobody budgeted for.
Handle the CPF refund
Whatever you used from CPF, with accrued interest, generally goes back to CPF rather than to you. This surprises sellers regularly, and it is much better understood before you commit to an onward purchase.
Tell you what you will actually receive
Sale price less the outstanding loan, less the CPF refund, less costs. That figure is the one that matters, and we would rather you had it early.
Deal with the buyer's solicitors and bank
Requisitions, undertakings and the completion account. This is the bulk of the work and none of it should reach you.
Complete and hand over
Funds received, loan discharged, keys released, and the balance to you.