HDB Intent to Sell: What It Means, How to Register and the 7-Day Wait

The short answer

“Intent to Sell” is HDB’s name for the first formal step in selling your flat. You log in to My Flat Dashboard on the HDB Flat Portal with Singpass and register that you plan to sell. HDB gives you a preliminary check of your eligibility and the Option to Purchase (OTP) form. It is free, it lasts 12 months, and you have to wait at least 7 days after registering before you can grant a buyer an OTP. We checked these rules against HDB’s pages on 14 October 2026.

What the Intent to Sell does

It tells you whether you appear eligible to sell and gives you the paperwork to do it. HDB is clear that the result “is only an indication” and not approval to sell. Approval comes much later, after the resale application.

After registering, you can download:

• the OTP form you will give your buyer
• an estimate of your net sale proceeds
• the Ethnic Integration Policy and Singapore PR quotas for your block
• your upgrading status, any upgrading costs still to be billed and whether a resale levy will apply to your next subsidised flat
• recent transacted prices of flats nearby

Read the quota result carefully. If your block’s quota for a group is full, buyers from that group can’t buy from you, which shrinks your pool. The nearby prices are a starting point for your asking price. Our property valuation guide explains how to turn them into a realistic figure.

How to register on the HDB Flat Portal

1. Check your MOP. Log in to My HDBPage and confirm your Minimum Occupation Period has ended. Most flats have a 5-year MOP; Plus and Prime flats have 10 years. Our MOP check shows how the date is worked out.
2. Sort out ownership issues. HDB advises settling divorce or estate matters before you register, because the details can’t be changed later.
3. Log in to My Flat Dashboard on the HDB Flat Portal with Singpass and choose to register an Intent to Sell.
4. Fill in the details accurately. If anything is wrong, you must cancel and register again, or your resale application may be rejected.
5. Download the results, including the OTP form.

You must register personally, even if you have hired an agent. For a jointly owned flat, one owner can register for all of you. There is no fee.

The 7-day wait and the 12-month validity

Two time limits come with the registration.

Because of the 7 days, it pays to register a week or more before the first viewing. If a buyer is ready on day 3, you can agree a price, but you can’t sign the OTP until day 7.

The 12 months give you room to market the flat slowly. If you take longer, the registration lapses and you register again, with a new 7-day wait.

The full seller timeline

After the Intent to Sell, the sale follows HDB’s fixed sequence. Our HDB resale process guide covers each step in detail.

The OTP itself has fixed terms: an option fee of S$1 to S$1,000, and an option fee plus exercise fee of no more than S$5,000. If the buyer doesn’t exercise in time, they lose the option fee and you can grant a new OTP after the expiry date.

Worked example: a November listing

Mei Ling’s 4-room flat in Sengkang passed its 5-year MOP in March 2026. She decides to sell in November 2026.

• Monday 2 November 2026: she registers the Intent to Sell. It is valid until November 2027.
• 2 to 8 November: viewings start. A buyer offers S$620,000 on 5 November, but she can’t sign the OTP yet.
• Monday 9 November: the earliest day she can grant the OTP. She collects an option fee of S$1,000.
• By late November: the buyer gets the valuation, exercises the OTP within 21 days and pays the S$4,000 exercise fee.
• Early December: both sides submit the resale application within 7 days of each other.
• By mid-January 2027: HDB accepts the application, at the latest 28 working days after it is complete.
• Around mid-March 2027: completion, about 8 weeks after acceptance. Her sale proceeds pay off the loan and refund her CPF first.

From registration to keys, that is about four and a half months. It runs past the usual three to four months here because the example assumes HDB takes the full 28 working days to accept the application.

Before you register

1. Get a realistic price from recent sales in your block. Our valuation guide and the HDB valuation and COV page explain how buyers’ financing caps what they can pay.
2. If you are upgrading, line up your next home’s financing before day 7, so you aren’t racing the option period.
3. Ask to see the buyer’s HFE letter before you grant the OTP.

This page is general information from HDB’s published guides, checked on 14 October 2026. HDB decides each case on its own facts.

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