Buying Your Spouse's Share of the Private Property

You may wish to buy your spouse’s share of the private property at an agreed price to retain the private property. This may be by way of an Option to Purchase or Sale and Purchase Agreement.

Buyer’s Stamp Duty (BSD), and Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) if any, will apply for transfers or sale of the property to spouses. BSD and ABSD are computed based on the purchase price or market value of the property, whichever is higher. In addition, Seller’s Stamp Duty (SSD) may apply for your spouse’s share of the private property if the transfer of ownership or sale of property to your spouse is made within the SSD holding period. Your spouse may wish to refer to IRAS’ website for more information on whether SSD applies, and how much it is. BSD, ABSD and SSD can only be remitted if the conditions for Stamp Duty Remission for Matrimonial Proceedings are met. Details on these conditions are available on the IRAS website.

If you decide to sell the subject property after acquiring your spouse’s share, SSD may apply. To find out if SSD applies to you, you may visit IRAS’ website.

If you are a foreign person (including Singapore Permanent Residents) and would like to purchase or otherwise acquire your spouse’s share of a residential property under the purview of the Residential Property Act (RPA), you will be required to obtain approval under the RPA to purchase or acquire your spouse’s share in the property. Conversely, if your spouse is a foreign person intending to purchase or otherwise acquire your share of the residential property, he/she would be required to obtain approval under the RPA to purchase or acquire your share of the property. Examples of residential property under the purview of the RPA include landed houses, strata landed houses and shophouses (for non-commercial uses). You may wish to refer to SLA’s website for more information.

The CPF principal amount withdrawn by your spouse has to be refunded to his/her CPF account with accrued interest. If there are insufficient monies to make the full requisite CPF refund to your spouse’s CPF Accounts, and the sale of your spouse’s share of the private property to you was at or above market value, CPF Board will collect the higher of the 2 formulae below, capped at your spouse’s principal amount used for the private property and its accrued interest.

The following example has been provided to aid your general understanding and is not intended to be representative of all the scenarios that may arise. You may wish to consult a legal professional for personalised and in-depth advice.

The above example is based on the sale of Nathan’s share to Anita at a market rate. If the part-share resale price is above market valuation, Anita may have to pay cash over valuation.

If you are considering retaining your current private property, you may also wish to read more about determining your financial capacity to service your housing loan here.