Report the new-flat defects before the renovator covers them

Last updated 31 October 2026.

HDB’s rectification page for new flats is the instruction, and it is easy to skip because a renovator wants the flat empty on day three. The page says all newly completed HDB flats have a 1-year Defects Liability Period from the date of key collection. It says to report items within 1 month of key collection and before renovation works begin, so HDB does not have to investigate whether a mark was from construction or from the renovation. It says repair usually takes less than 2 weeks. If your renovation cannot wait, HDB can rectify during the renovation if that does not hinder it, or after, and some minor items can wait until you have moved in if living conditions are not affected. You submit online or at the Building Service Centre in the welcome kit. There is a joint inspection. For security, HDB does not recommend handing the flat keys to the contractor. Bring a lock. A closing inspection follows when the work is done. After the year, you engage your own contractor. That last sentence is the other page on this site, not a reason to skip the report now.

What to check is the list you can photograph without opening a riser: doors that do not latch, chips, stains, silicone gaps, tiles that sound hollow, windows that do not lock. The key-collection checklist already on HomeySG is the longer walk-through. This guide does not replace it and does not publish a private inspector’s 80-point form. “What to bring for a BTO defect check?” is not answered by an official tool list on the page we read. Bring what the Building Service Centre or the online form asks for, and bring a phone so the joint inspection has the same photos you keep. A torch helps you see a corner. It is not a required product. We do not sell a defect scan. If someone quotes you an “SG defect scan” fee, that number is not ours. Quote on inspection, and it is not required by the HDB paragraph above.

Renovation that starts first creates the fight the page warns about. A hacked bathroom inside the three-year restriction is a separate breach, not a defect. A painted chip is a chip you can no longer show. A new silicone bead hides the joint the Building Service Centre needed to see. If a renovator says they will “touch up the defects as part of the package”, ask them to wait until HDB has closed or scheduled those items. Our permit-exempt bands, a hinge at S$60 to S$120, silicone at S$80 to S$150, a hole at S$150 to S$280, are for after that, or for items HDB has said are not theirs. Using them in week one is how a household pays for HDB’s work.

Windows and the household shelter are not touch-ups even after the report. A window that was installed badly may be a defect. A window you then replace is an RW01 contractor and a permit, described on HDB’s window-works page and on BCA’s window page. Do not let the defects month become an unpermitted sash change. Condo buyers should not use this HDB timetable. Their contract is the condo page. “How long does an HDB defect check take?” if it means HDB’s repair, is the “less than 2 weeks” sentence. If it means how long you should walk the flat, HDB does not publish a duration. Walk it before the renovator books the hack, inside the first month.

Homey Furnishing Pte. Ltd. (ACRA UEN 202018148K), 27 Mandai Estate, #06-10 Innovation Place, Singapore 729931, invoices permit-exempt maintenance. V On Construction Pte. Ltd. (ACRA UEN 201611708H), on the HDB Directory of Renovation Contractors, invoices hacking, a new layout, and other work that needs an HDB renovation permit. Homey Furnishing is not a Council for Estate Agencies licensed estate agent and does not sell, rent or market flats. It is not a Ministry of Manpower licensed employment agency and does not place helpers.

Curtains, blinds and roller shades are not part of this booking. This page also does not sell or rent the home, and it does not place a domestic worker.

Put the renovator’s start date after the report, not before it.

1. On key collection, note the date. The year and the one-month window both use it.
2. Submit the rectification request before any hacking, painting or resealing.
3. Attend the joint inspection. Keep the keys. Bring a lock as HDB asks.
4. Keep our visit for items HDB has closed or refused.
5. Read the key-collection checklist for what to photograph. Do not skip the report because the checklist exists.

The building changes the permission. It does not invent a second price.

When HDB’s closing inspection is done, the flat is yours to maintain. The handover and move-in packages, from S$298 for a small reset up to the BTO move-in packages on that page, are for fittings you want added, not for defects you hid. A 2-room BTO move-in package is S$688, a 3-room is S$888, a 4-room is S$1,048, and a 5-room is S$1,288, as already printed. Those packages are not a defects submission.

If a leak from above appears after you move in, the ceiling-leak guide explains the neighbour and town-council question. Painting it during the defects month, without a report, is still the wrong order. Water is the item most worth showing before a cabinet covers the ceiling.

How you're charged

A job that already has a sentence on HomeySG uses that sentence. The hour is not added on top of a band unless the written scope says so. There is no fuel surcharge. A whole-flat repaint, a private defect-scan fee, and a litre of a named paint brand are not in the catalogue.

Who is allowed to do the work

HDB’s important information on renovation says renovation in a flat, including some work that does not need a permit, is carried out by a contractor from the Directory of Renovation Contractors. The same page says failing to use a listed contractor for renovations, or breaching the renovation rules, can lead to a fine of up to $5,000. That sentence is HDB’s. It is not a ruling on your flat. Read the page before you treat a handyman visit as a renovation.

• Permit-exempt maintenance that already has a band, such as a hinge, a silicone joint or a small hole patch, stays on the Homey Furnishing invoice.
• Hacking, a new layout, and replacement of toilet finishes inside HDB’s restriction period move to V On Construction Pte. Ltd. UEN 201611708H. The price of that permit scope is quote on inspection.
• A new cable or a consumer unit is an EMA licensed electrician. A new water point is a PUB licensed plumber. Piped gas is a licensed gas worker.
• Window installation and replacement on an HDB flat is a BCA approved window contractor on HDB’s directory, with a renovation permit first. BCA describes workhead RW01. Homey Furnishing is not that contractor.
• Selling, renting or marketing the flat is estate agency work. CEA registers property agents. We do not do that work.
• A weekly cleaner on this site is not a migrant domestic worker placement. We do not hire out helpers.
• Curtains, blinds and roller shades are not part of this booking.

Ways to keep the bill smaller

• Photograph every mark before you book a full repaint. A hole that matches the S$150 to S$280 sentence does not need a whole-flat price.
• Put several permit-exempt tasks on one visit. The S$55 call-out is one task. Further permit-exempt time is S$45 an hour, not a second trip.
• Report a new-flat defect to HDB, or the developer if the contract says so, before you pay anyone to cover it.
• Do not hack a bathroom floor to “save” a later leak. HDB’s three-year restriction exists so the flat below stays dry.
• The existing key-collection checklist is the walk-through list. This page is only the timing: do not renovate first.

WhatsApp the photos to +65 8561 0630.

The right spend in month one is often the report, which we do not charge because we do not file it. The bands are for afterwards.

Anything not in that table is quote on inspection.

WhatsApp the photos to +65 8561 0630. The reply uses a band already printed on HomeySG, or it says quote on inspection.

• Key-collection checklist
• After the year ends
• Do not hack the bathroom
• BTO move-in packages
• Renovation hours
• Later PDF repairs