According to National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan, the government is considering expanding the criteria for the lease buyback scheme to allow seniors living in bigger Housing Board flats to convert part of the lease on their flat into cash. This is meant to allow the seniors to age in place.
Currently, the lease buyback scheme is only applicable for those living in three-room and smaller flats.
Although the scheme has not been very popular, Mr Khaw said it provides more options for seniors, and that he had received many requests for four-room and five-room flats to be allowed too. Despite the low take-up rate, Mr Khaw said it is not regarded as a failure. Rather, it means that people are generally not financially desperate to need to take advantage of such options.
He added that the options are there for those who need it. However, this does not mean that it should stop at three-room flats. Hence, he suggested that the government can always re-consider to whom the lease buyback scheme should cater to.
The lease buyback scheme was introduced in 2009 and enhanced last year. It allows home owners to sell part of their lease back to the government in return for cash. Some 240 seniors tapped on the scheme last year after the rules were relaxed, up from 471 in total between 2009 and 2012.
Government Parliamentary Committee for National Development and Environment chairman Lee Bee Wah supports expanding the lease buyback scheme but does not expect it to be popular. In her opinion, most seniors would rather prefer to sell their flats and get cash upfront to buy a HDB studio apartment in the same estate.
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