Conveyancing Lawyers and Fees in Singapore: HDB's Fee Worked Out, and What to Ask a Private Lawyer

The word covers everything between an agreed price and a registered owner. For an HDB resale where HDB acts, the steps look like this (HDB):

1. Searches. A title search at the Singapore Land Authority ($32) confirms who owns the flat and what is registered against it.
2. Documents. About 3 weeks after HDB accepts the resale application, it posts the documents for buyers and sellers to endorse, including the buyer's financial plan and the CPF withdrawals.
3. Stamp duty. "The stamp duty will be collected by the solicitor who is acting for purchaser or mortgagor."
4. The caveat. The buyer's caveat ($64.45) is "an official notice to the Singapore Land Authority to protect your interest in the flat" (CPF).
5. Approval and completion. HDB approves about 2 weeks after both sides endorse and pay, then the transfer is completed and registered.

For a private home the lawyer does the same jobs under a contract rather than HDB's process, and holds the purchase money under the Ministry of Law's rules (see below).

A conveyancer's job is to make sure what you pay for is what you get: a clean title, registered in your name.

HDB's own charges, worked out at the national median resale price for each flat type:

PropKaki arithmetic on the Housing and Development (Conveyancing Fees) Rules, at medians for 2026 H1. The fixed items are SLA's $32 title search, $38.30 transfer registration and $64.45 buyer's caveat, plus HDB's $16.35 miscellaneous fee (HDB).

If you take a bank loan instead, CPF Board's guide says "you will have to appoint a private lawyer to handle the entire process" and puts the cost at "$2,500 - $3,000 on average" (CPF). For a condo or landed home there is no official figure: ask for a written estimate (see below). Either way the lawyer also collects the buyer's stamp duty, which is a tax and far larger: see when stamp duty is due after the OTP. To see legal fees and stamp duty in your cash plan, use the property financial planner.

HDB's fee is a formula; a private lawyer's fee is a quote. Compare them line by line, not headline to headline.

The scale is in the First Schedule of the Rules, item 2, "Resale, transfer or assignment of flat by the owner" (Singapore Statutes Online). Worked through for the median 4-room price of $630,000:

"The legal fee is rounded up to the next dollar, before applying GST" (CPF), so $586 becomes $638.74. HDB's $20 minimum shows as $21.80 with GST.

If you also take an HDB loan, HDB charges for the mortgage on the same scale, based on the loan amount, with separate minimum fees for the mortgagee and mortgagor, plus SLA's $38.30 mortgage registration and a $64.45 mortgagee's caveat, and stamp duty on the mortgage of 0.40% of the loan, capped at $500 (HDB). For the exact total on your price and loan, use HDB's legal fees enquiry facility.

Above $60,000, every extra $100 of price adds 9 cents to HDB's fee.

HDB's legal fees facility says HDB "provides legal services when you: Buy an HDB flat · Sell your HDB flat · Refinance your HDB loan · whether you are taking a loan from HDB or from the banks" (HDB). For a buyer taking a bank loan, though, CPF Board's guide says "you will have to appoint a private lawyer to handle the entire process" (CPF), and HDB's fee list assumes private solicitors act for bank-loan buyers (HDB). Check with HDB and your bank before you choose.

If HDB acts for you, "you must attend the resale completion appointment in person at the HDB Hub"; with private solicitors, they advise you on the completion requirements.

HDB's statutory fee is the benchmark for an HDB flat, and it is on offer only if you are not borrowing from a bank.

The Legal Profession (Solicitors’ Remuneration) Order sets the test, not a price: a "fair and reasonable" sum having regard to the circumstances, including "where money or property is involved, the amount or value thereof" and "the time expended by the solicitor" (Singapore Statutes Online). The one official figure is for HDB buyers with a bank loan: "$2,500 - $3,000 on average", payable in cash or CPF (CPF). For condos and landed homes, ask two or three firms for a written, itemised estimate. Under rule 17(3) of the conduct rules (Singapore Statutes Online), a lawyer must:

• tell you "the basis on which fees for professional services will be charged", and how fees and disbursements are to be paid;
• tell you of "any other reasonably foreseeable payments";
• give you estimates of those fees and payments if you ask, "to the extent reasonably practicable"; and
• keep the actual amounts from varying "substantially from the estimates", unless you are told in writing.

What to check a quote itemises:

• The professional fee, and whether GST is on top.
• Disbursements: title and other searches, caveat and registration fees, which are paid on to SLA and other agencies.
• Whether the bank's mortgage work is included, if you take a bank loan.
• Stamp duty is a tax the lawyer collects, not part of the fee.

Ask for the estimate in writing: the rules hold the lawyer to it unless you are told in writing why it changed.

HDB's fee list for buyers is headed "The legal fees payable will depend on the solicitors whom you have appointed to act for you", and "After endorsing the documents, you must pay the legal fees by the deadline given by HDB" (HDB). HDB's own bill can be paid by credit card, NETS, PayNow or, for the legal fees, CPF savings.

Stamp duty has one deadline for every purchase: "When you buy any property, you need to pay Stamp Duty within 14 days of the date of Contract/Agreement. HDB has been authorised by IRAS to collect stamp duty on its behalf" (IRAS). In an HDB resale, "The stamp duty will be collected by the solicitor who is acting for purchaser or mortgagor", it is "payable by CPF savings", and if your CPF is short, or you pay without a loan with HDB acting, "you must pay the stamp fees during your resale completion appointment". PR households pay ABSD on top, at the completion appointment.

For a private home, the lawyer works to IRAS's rule: "You are required to stamp a document before you sign it", with no penalty if it is stamped "Within 14 days after signing the document if it is signed in Singapore", or within 30 days after it reaches Singapore if signed overseas; after that, "A penalty of up to 4 times may be imposed" (IRAS). See when you pay stamp duty after exercising the OTP.

Your lawyer runs the stamp-duty deadline for you; make sure the money is there when it falls due.

CPF Board: "You can tap on your CPF Ordinary Account (OA) savings to pay the legal fees and stamp duty in full. For stamp duty of a property that is already completed, you can pay cash first and get reimbursed from your CPF account later. If the property is still under construction, you can pay the stamp duty directly through your CPF" (CPF).

Three catches:

• The option fees are cash. "Do note that the option fees cannot be paid using your CPF."
• Private lawyers: you can pay with cash or CPF, "but do check with the law-firm if you are using your CPF".
• It comes back out when you sell. "When you sell your flat, you’ll need to refund the money from your OA that was used for your home purchase. This includes the legal fees and stamp duty", and the refund is "the CPF principal amount used plus accrued interest" (CPF). See how much of your downpayment CPF can cover.

CPF can fund the paperwork, but it comes back out of your sale proceeds, with interest.

The Ministry of Law's rules, brought in on 1 August 2011: lawyers are "prohibited from receiving and holding any conveyancing money, unless the conveyancing money is deposited" into a conveyancing account, with the Singapore Academy of Law's Conveyancing Money Service, or "Into an escrow account jointly opened by lawyers acting for the respective parties". A lawyer who breaks it faced a fine of up to $50,000, up to three years in jail, or both, when the rules came in (Ministry of Law). When paying the firm's conveyancing account by cheque, cashier's order or bank draft, the payee name should "include the suffix, “-CVY” after the law firm’s name"; your lawyer will confirm the account details.

Keep the money away from your property agent too. CEA: "In general, RESs should not handle any transaction monies"; pay payees directly "through verifiable means such as bank transfers, PayNow, and crossed cheques", and pay the commission to the estate agency, the company, not to an individual (CEA).

If anyone asks you to route purchase money through their personal account, stop.

Rule 20 of the Legal Profession (Professional Conduct) Rules 2015 (Singapore Statutes Online) applies where a lawyer "intends to act for 2 or more different parties" and "a diversity of interests exists". Before accepting instructions, the lawyer:

• must explain to each party how their interests diverge or may diverge, and that some information or advice may have to be withheld from one side;
• "must advise each relevant party to obtain independent legal advice"; and
• "must obtain each relevant party’s informed consent in writing".

The lawyer "must cease to act" if it becomes difficult to deal with the parties' interests "competently, evenly and consistently". A buyer and a seller want opposite things on price, dates and defects, so a lawyer of your own is the cleaner choice.

One lawyer for both sides is allowed only with these safeguards, and it is rarely in your interest.

Section 33(2)(a) of the Legal Profession Act 1966: an unauthorised person who "draws or prepares any document or instrument relating to any movable or immovable property" commits an offence unless the act "was not done for or in expectation of any fee, gain or reward" (Singapore Statutes Online). Section 34 lists who is exempt, including "any person acting personally for himself or herself only in any matter or proceeding to which he or she is a party" (Singapore Statutes Online). For an HDB flat, HDB itself provides legal services to buyers and sellers (HDB).

Official rules. HDB's fee scale is the Housing and Development (Conveyancing Fees) Rules on Singapore Statutes Online, current as at 19 September 2026, and HDB's own copy (updated July 2026). The fixed fees, payment rules and who acts in the purchase are from HDB's resale approval page (updated August 2026); the private-lawyer range, CPF rules and option-fee rule are from CPF Board's guide dated 28 April 2026; the stamping deadline is IRAS's; the conduct rules, the Remuneration Order and section 33 are from Singapore Statutes Online; the conveyancing-money rules are the Ministry of Law's 2011 release; the rule on who may handle transaction money is CEA's (accurate as at 16 December 2025). All read on 19 September 2026.

Proprietary figures. The median resale prices are PropKaki's HDB resale records for 2026 H1; the fees are PropKaki's arithmetic on HDB's scale, rounded up to the dollar before 9% GST, as HDB and CPF describe. They cover the transfer only, not an HDB loan's mortgage fees. How we work: PropKaki methodology.

What we have not claimed: any private law firm's fee, a fee for your own purchase (use HDB's enquiry facility or ask for a written estimate), or which lawyer to choose. This is a practical explainer, not legal or financial advice.