Property Legal Brief: HDB Inheritance

By Lee Heng Eam, Assistant Vice President of PropNex Realty

Of late, more and more property-related disputes made the news and they provide invaluable lessons for readers to avoid legal suits, or at the very least, be able to defend their positions. PropNex is a firm believer and Champion of financial literacy, and whilst one accumulates asset through property, having knowledge of legal issues and pitfalls concerning property matters will help protect and preserve them.

This article will showcase two cases involving two widows who each inherited their spouse’s HDB flat respectively. More articles will be published featuring real life cases and lessons where we can (safely) learn from others and hopefully avoid being caught in similar situations ourselves.

CASE 1 :
In the first case, a widow, Mrs Ng, inherited 30% of her late-husband’s share in an HDB flat under a will. She was also the executrix (a woman executor of a will). The other 70% was owned by the deceased’s brother (Mr Ng). The relationship between the two deteriorated, with Mr Ng exhibiting family violence against Mrs Ng. Mrs Ng also sought a personal protection order against him but discontinued the same after being urged by a mediator. Mrs Ng was also locked out of the flat and was only let in when the police was called.
The breakdown in the relationship culminated into Mrs Ng’s application for a Court order for the sale of the HDB flat in the open market. She didn’t apply for her name to be included in the flat because she was neither a Singapore Permanent Resident (SPR) or Singapore Citizen (SC) at the time of the application. Naturally, Mr Ng, holding the larger share, objected to the application.
The case concluded with a Court Order setting out the sale mechanics for the HDB flat; how it was to be sold with various timelines, conditions and stipulations. For the trained eye, the Court order seems simple enough to comprehend; to the uninitiated, however, it can appear rather complicated, involving the fulfilment of certain conditions, stipulated timeline, amongst others.

CASE 2 :
In the second case, Ms Wang, who was a foreigner married a Singaporean who owned an HDB flat. When she became a Singapore Permanent Resident (SPR), her name was included in the HDB flat as a joint-tenant with her husband. That gave her the right of survivorship, which means her late husband’s share in the HDB flat would go to her upon his demise.
After her late-husband’s demise, Ms Wang was sued by her sister-in-law qua administratrix (a woman who is an administrator) of her late-husband’s estate. She sought a declaration that Ms Wang held the Flat “as trustee for and on behalf of the deceased’s estate”, and an order for Ms Wang to execute at her own expense all documents necessary to transfer her share back to the estate or to the administratix.
The administratix failed to convince the Court that the marriage was a sham, and the High Court went on to affirm the absolute ownership of Ms Wang in the HDB flat.

Take-aways for the two cases
The two widows faced problems with their HDB flat inheritance from their respective deceased spouse.

For Mrs Ng, her inability to own the HDB flat proved to be problematic when the other larger share was owned by her brother-in-law. If the late Mr Ng knew of the potential complications his widow would face, he would surely do things differently. But how differently? Have parties sign a long-term lease in favour of Mrs Ng? How long? What should be the rental? But if Mrs Ng was already an occupier, how to sign a lease with her as a tenant? Also, will such lease be deemed as trust and hence (potentially) falling foul of section 58 of the Housing and Development Act?

These are questions which must be answered (before it’s too late) and not left hanging when the inevitable happens (because that will be too late).
For Ms Wang, there is nothing which can be done by her to avoid being sued, but her saving grace was her late-husband’s decisive decision to name her as a joint-tenant. The outcome will be very different if Ms Wang was a tenant-in-common, and the deceased for some reason, had executed a will naming others as beneficiaries to his estate.

Therefore, knowing the different manners of holding for properties and their legal effect is very important when it comes to estate planning.

Conclusion
This article will not be able to answer the myriad of questions arising from specific facts and circumstances of each unique scenario, and the key point here is when in doubt, consult, because you do not know what you don’t know, and speaking with a specialist will help. Lawyers, real estate salespersons and the Housing and Development Board (HDB) are all ever-ready to provide their specialist knowledge to those who sought them.

About the writer
Heng Eam serves as Assistant Vice President (AVP) to PropNex Limited since March 2021. A lawyer by training, he was called to the Malaysian Bar in 2005. From 2007, he practiced law in Singapore for several years before being called to the Singapore Bar in 2014. He then served as legal counsel for in another major real estate agency, from 2015 up till 2021. Besides his specialisation in litigation, he also provides legal counsel for corporate regulatory issues such as the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), as well as advises clients on employment, property, and landlord and tenant disputes.

Sun Yanyuan v Ng Yit Beng [2022] SGHC 286

Ho Woon Chun (administratix of the estate of Ho Fook Tuck, deceased) v Wang Kai Qing [2023] SGHC 115

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