Will the dates line up?
Selling one home and buying another means running two timelines side by side. This lays both out on the same calendar so the gap between them is a number, not a hope.
Example dates — change anythingThe move
Both legs
The numbers behind each leg
On one calendar
The two timelines
Every date and every payment sits on the chart, so a printed copy carries them all. Change any period in the boxes above and the whole calendar moves with it.
Cash in, cash out
What you hand over, and what comes back
Both legs merged into one running balance, in date order. In is money reaching you, out is money leaving you, and running is the difference so far — the cash you are holding at that moment. Red and negative means you are out of pocket and have to find the money from somewhere before the sale pays you.
Completion is a heading, not a payment. The indented lines under it show where that figure comes from or goes to — the bank's loan, the CPF the Board releases, a deposit your solicitor is holding — and the plain line that closes the group is the only one that moves the running total. Add the indented lines together and you get the heading; they are not extra money.
| Date | Event | In | Out | Running |
|---|
Agreed in the meeting
Typed here, this prints with the rest of the sheet.
Where each period comes from, and what this does not do
HDB resale
The option period is 21 calendar days, counted from the day after the Option to Purchase is granted, and it ends at 4pm on the expiry date. Where CPF or a housing loan is involved, the valuation request goes in by the next working day after the OTP is granted. Once one party submits their half of the resale application, the other has 7 calendar days to submit theirs or the application is cancelled. HDB notifies both parties of acceptance within 28 working days where the papers are in order.
The point most timelines get wrong: the eight weeks to completion runs from HDB's acceptance of the resale application, not from the OTP date and not from submission. That is why acceptance appears here as its own step — take it out and every completion date lands early.
Temporary extension of stay
A seller who needs longer can ask the buyer for up to three months after completion. It has to be agreed before the resale application is submitted and approved by HDB, and there is no further extension beyond three months. During it the buyer already owns the flat, so the buyer carries the loan instalments, service and conservancy charges and property tax.
Private resale
The option period is commonly 14 days, though it is negotiable and can run to around two months. The option fee is usually 1% and the exercise deposit a further 4%. Buyer's Stamp Duty and any ABSD fall due within 14 days of exercising. Completion is whatever the contract says, commonly 8 to 12 weeks — check whether your OTP counts from exercise or from the Sale and Purchase Agreement, because the two give different dates.
Late completion interest under the Law Society Conditions of Sale runs at 8% a year on the outstanding sum, pro-rated by the days of delay. The 1999 edition used 10%, so confirm which edition your contract incorporates. Interest is only triggered where one party's default is the sole cause of the delay.
New launch
The booking fee is 5% in cash — not CPF, not loan. The developer delivers the Sale and Purchase Agreement within about 2 weeks, and the buyer has 3 weeks from receiving it to sign and exercise. Stamp duty is due within 14 days of signing the S&P, not of the booking. The 15% balance of the downpayment follows within about 8 weeks of exercising, and progressive payments run against construction from there.
What this does not do
- Working days. Everything here counts calendar days, so a date landing on a weekend or public holiday will move in practice.
- HFE letter processing, which can run past 21 working days in a peak period and must be in hand before an HDB option is granted.
- The seller's 7-day wait after registering an Intent to Sell before an HDB option can be granted.
- Bridging finance, CPF refunds, or whether the sale proceeds actually arrive in time to fund the purchase. That is a cashflow question, not a date one.
Periods are the usual ones, not a rule that binds your contract. The OTP, the Sale and Purchase Agreement and HDB's own conditions govern, and a conveyancing lawyer should confirm every date before anyone commits to one.
Prepared by Stefan Teo · CEA Reg No R066970C and Jodi · CEA Reg No R065997B. Indicative planning dates only, counted in calendar days from the dates entered above. Periods reflect the usual HDB and private conveyancing timelines and do not override the Option to Purchase, the Sale and Purchase Agreement or HDB's conditions. Confirm every date with a conveyancing lawyer before committing.