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Everything You Need to Know About SERS Projects in S’pore

2022-04-08 , 11:30 am

You probably heard about the Selective En-bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS) project that’s hitting Ang Mo Kio, and are wondering: What exactly is SERS? What benefits does it bring? And what are the upcoming SERS projects in Singapore?

Here’s everything you need to know about the SERS projects.

What is SERS?

SERS, which first started in 1995, involved the demolishing of old blocks and redeveloping the old site. They’ll offer affected residents new units nearby.

The latest site to be announced under SERS are blocks 562 to 565 in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3, and these flat owners will be moving to Ang Mo Kio Drive, where about 1,065 new replacement units are available for them.

The new flats will be sold at subsidised prices and frozen at the time of the SERS announcement. They are not subject to further market movements, which gives these flat owners more certainty about their housing situation.

SERS flat owners will be invited to register and choose their flats on this site first, and there’ll be a Sale of Balance flats exercise or open booking for any surplus flats.

The completion of Ang Mo Kio Drive’s flats is estimated to be in the third quarter of 2027.

SERS Timeline, According to AMK

After the announcement that AMK is under SERS, the rest of 2022 will have residents attending SERS sharing sessions, assessing their flat value, co-designing precinct spaces, and receiving their compensation notice.

In 2023, they’ll have to make their choices for rehousing and start registering for and booking their new flat. They’ll collect their keys from 2027 to 2028, and finally move into the new flats in 2028.

Rehousing Benefits

Under SERS, affected residents will get rehousing benefits. The benefits will differ, depending on your household status, such as:

First/Second-timer
Non-Citizen spouse household
Singapore Permanent Resident household
Remaining Single/Joint Single household
Single Singaporean Citizen household
Third-timer/households who had SERS benefit previously
Private property owner

You can check the different benefits accorded to your respective status at this website.

SERS Grant

The SERS Grant is distributed equally among eligible Singapore citizens who own a SERS flat, regardless of status. This is to help you buy a replacement flat from HDB.

The grant is credited to the flat owner’s CPF ordinary account, and it can only be used to pay for the replacement flat.

If the replacement flat is later sold or transferred, the grant will be returned with interest to the owner’s CPF account.

The Housing Development Board (HDB) will also recover, with interest, the grant if the application for a replacement flat is cancelled.

What If I Don’t Want To Move to the Replacement Site?

If residents don’t want to stay in the replacement flats offered, they can apply for an apartment elsewhere with SERS rehousing benefits. This would be under open booking, Build-To-Order or Sale of Balance flats exercise, where they’ll get a 10% priority allocation.

Alternatively, they can sell the existing SERS flat in the open market, or transfer the flat with the rehousing benefits.

Otherwise, they can also opt to receive an ex-gratia payment of $30,000 plus SERS grant if eligible. This is on top of SERS compensation, and they won’t get the rehousing benefits.

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SERS Compensation

HDB will give compensation to affected flat owners, based on the market value of your flat at the point of SERS announcement. They’ll also include reasonable expenses to help you move into a new flat.

However, the compensation is subject to things like property tax payment, discharge of outstanding housing loan, and refund of CPF amount used. You’ll have to include all of these to find out what’s your balance compensation.

For more details, you can visit this website.

Other In-Progress SERS Projects

There are some SERS sites that are currently under development, with residents already choosing their rehousing options and waiting to collect their keys.

These sites include:

Blocks 81 to 83 MacPherson Lane
Blocks 513 to 520 West Coast Road
Blocks 24 to 32, 33 to 38, 30 to 45, 55, 56, 58 to 60, and 62 to 66 Tangling Halt Road and Commonwealth Drive

There are no details of any upcoming SERS projects. But given how the Ang Mo Kio one was the most recent one announced since 2018, we shouldn’t expect any new projects soon.