HOUSING AND DEVELOPMENT BOARD FLATS (Joint tenancy by divorcing couples)

Ms Braema Mathiaparanam asked the Minister for National Development whether his Ministry will allow divorcing couples to remain as joint tenants of their flats until their children turn 18 so as to reduce custody disputes.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan (for the Minister for National Development): Under the HDB Home Ownership Scheme, having a family nucleus is one of the prerequisite eligibility conditions that applicants need to satisfy before they can qualify for an HDB flat. Examples of such a family nucleus include a married couple, a single staying with his or her parents and a divorced parent with legal custody of the children.

When a married couple divorces, the Family Court usually addresses the issue of legal custody of the children, if there are children, and the question of division of assets, including the HDB flat as this is the matrimonial home. As the parent who obtains legal custody, care and control of the children is considered to form a family nucleus with the children, he or she is allowed to retain or take over the ownership of the HDB flat.

Where a couple who jointly owns the HDB flat is divorced, it would not be appropriate to allow them to continue to jointly own the flat since that couple no longer constitutes a family unit and is really not likely to be living in the same flat. It is therefore not practical for outgoing divorcees to retain ownership, since this would render them ineligible to buy another flat in the future. And in any case, there is also no guarantee that granting such joint ownership of HDB flats to divorcees would really make any difference as far as the reduction of custody disputes is concerned.