(Picture shows Mr Johnny Koh in the meeting with clients)
Edited on 23 August 2024. Article written by Justin Lu
Decoupling is a process when one of the property owners wishes to remove his/her names from the shared property and with that, frees himself/herself of a property count.
Basically there are different types of transfer of ownership:
- Sale and Purchase to third parties
Homeowners can transfer their share in the Property to a third party, thereby relinquishing their ownership in the Property completely.
- Order of Court via Grant of Probate or Grant of Letters of Administration
Another form of transfer of ownership in Property can take place when a Testator leaves it in his will that he/she wishes to bequeath his Property to his beneficiaries upon his passing. The law firm doing the estate matters will then extract the Grant of Probate from the High Court and the administrator will then administer the estate according to the Testator’s will.
If a person passes away intestate,the assets of the Deceased person will be distributed according to the laws of intestacy.
- Transfer by the way of gift
Another form of transmission of Property can be by way of gift if the property is unencumbered. This means that the loan has been fully repaid and parties’ CPF monies had been fully refunded into their CPF Ordinary Accounts.
- Transfer of Property from one owner to another by way of Decoupling
This method seems to be trending and is the subject matter of our article today.
The decoupling process involves several steps:
1. Valuation of the Property: The first step involves getting the property valued. This is necessary to determine the value of the share being transferred and the corresponding stamp duty payable.
2. Legal Documentation: Two law firms are required to prepare the documents and handle the transfer of ownership. One law firm will act for the “seller” who is exiting the Property and another law firm will act for the “Buyer” who is buying over the “seller’s” share of the Property. The whole process will be completed after two months.
3.Payment of Stamp Duty: The person taking over full ownership must pay the Buyer Stamp Duty(“BSD”) on the transferred share of the property. The BSD is calculated based on the market value of the property share being transferred.
4.Mortgage Considerations: If there is an existing mortgage on the property, the person taking over ownership must qualify for the loan based on their own financial standing. This may involve refinancing or adjusting the loan.
Decoupling is a strategic financial move that can provide substantial benefits in the right circumstances. For couples planning to expand their property portfolio in Singapore.
We at Golden Law LLC pride ourselves on the fact that we are able to prepare documents for the clients to sign at breakneck speed (ie within the hour). This area of conveyancing is helmed by our Mr Johnny Koh, a veteran Conveyancing Manager who has been with the Firm for close to 15 years and has dabbled in Decoupling cases for the same length of time. Engage him in a conversation related to Decoupling and he will speak animatedly and passionately about decoupling and field all your most complicated questions. We asked Johnny before this article was posted what is his favourite area of Conveyancing and he answered (without hesitation), “Decoupling of course”. Johnny approaches our Decoupling clients with a ready smile to take on any new challenges. He is well equipped with the requisite knowledge and experience to serve our clients well, his motto being “Never short change our Golden clients”.
Our lawyer, Ms Mona J Oei is an experienced Real Estate Lawyer with 31 years of post graduate experience. Golden Law LLC has more than 14 years of experience dealing with decoupling cases ranging from straight forward to complicated cases.
We are READY to answer all your enquiries.