Is it time for you to finally collect the keys to your new home? After three to five years of waiting for your build-to-order (BTO) flat, you’d want the entire key collection to move-in journey to be as seamless as possible. However, there is still plenty to do before your home is move-in ready; from checking for defects to renovating your home, these are crucial steps to ensuring that your new home will be comfortable and pleasant for you and your family.
1. Pre-Key Collection
Upon confirmation of your purchase, you would want to get your fire insurance sorted out. All new homeowners must purchase fire insurance for their home from ETIQA, HDB’s appointed insurer. This is done online or at HDB Hub itself.
You may also want to setup your utilities account, so that you can test the utilities and electrical points, you should set up and activate your utility account before your key collection date.
2. Key collection
There is plenty of preparations needed for key collection as well. Here’s what you need to bring along with you to your key collection appointment so that you can collect your keys without hiccups.
1. Identity card: Some sort of identity verification is needed for you to collect the keys to your home.
2. Singpass Mobile App: Make sure that your Singpass and all authentication methods are set up properly. You’ll need this to authorize transactions through your CPF.
3. Marriage Certificate: For flats applied under the Fiancé/Fiancée Scheme, a marriage certificate must be provided during key collection, or submitted within 3 months of key collection.
3. Check your new Home for Defects
Once you’ve successfully collected your keys from HDB, it is time to check out your new home and conduct a thorough defect inspection to identify any problems in your new home.
Upon key collection, you have 30 days to report these defects to your project’s Building Services Centre (BSC) to have them resolved. All new HDB BTO flats are covered under a 12-month Defect Liability Period, starting from the date of your key collection. Any defect found and reported within this period will be fixed by HDB at their cost. Do note that if you’ve commenced renovations, it may be difficult for HDB to ascertain whether the defect(s) was caused by HDB’s contractors and HDB may not be liable for any rectification work. Hence, it is recommended that you carry out the inspection and have any defects fixed before starting any renovation work.
Some common areas to check include testing all electrical points, furniture and fixtures and inspect for any cracks or tile defects.
4. Engage with an Interior Design
Once your home is verified defect-free, it is time to start looking through various interior design firms and engage with one to renovate your home. Before your first consultation, be sure to prepare your preferred interior design style and ideas (if any) and a list of questions for your interior designer. If you need help with preparation before visiting your interior designer, don't hestitate to check our cheatsheet here.
5. Move-in upon Renovation Completion
Upon a successful renovation and clean-up, the interior designer will handover the home to you for inspection. If there are no problems, you may begin bringing your new furniture and belongings into your house. You may also wish to hire another cleaning company to do a thorough clean right before moving in.
From key collection to move in, there are many steps to take and it can become overwhelming and complex if you decide to go through extensive renovations to build your dream home. However, with the right people on your side, the entire process can be simplified. Dreamakers Interior has many years of experience to ensure a seamless experience when it comes to renovating your dream home. Feel free to reach out to us for a non-obligatory consultation of your dream home.
At Dreamakers Interior we believe that every space has the potential to become unique, harmonial and beautiful. We are proud of what we do and are prepared to work overtime to guarantee that you are satisfied with the way your space looks. From full-scale projects to small renovations, we invite you to take a look at our gallery and see what we have done. Below are some of our favorite projects. If you need professional help for design conceptualization or space planning, let us know
👉 Our portfolio: https://www.dreamakersinterior.com/portfolio 👈
👉 Chat with our interior designers: https://www.dreamakersinterior.com/contact-us 👈