Vacant possession: what has to be gone by completion day

What vacant possession means

On completion day the buyer takes over an empty home: no occupants, and none of your belongings except what the sale includes.

For an HDB resale, HDB’s terms require the flat to be handed over with vacant possession at completion, and HDB asks sellers to move out before the completion appointment, where the keys are handed over. A few other things have to be settled first: service and conservancy charges up to the completion date, property tax to the end of the year, and any renovation works HDB hasn’t approved, which must be removed or regularised. HDB’s completion page for sellers lists them.

Private sales commonly adopt the Law Society’s Conditions of Sale 2020, as the standard option to purchase published by the Council for Estate Agencies does. Under them, on a sale with vacant possession, movable property that isn’t part of the sale must be removed by completion unless you and the buyer agree otherwise, and the home is handed over in the condition it was in when the option was granted, apart from fair wear and tear.

What can stay, and how to agree it

Some things usually stay with a home because they’re part of it: built-in wardrobes and kitchen cabinets, for instance. Loose furniture and most appliances are yours to take unless you agree otherwise. Curtains, lights and the aircon can go either way, and that uncertainty is exactly why it’s worth writing down.

If the buyer wants something to stay, list it in the sale documents or in a written inventory both of you sign. If you want to leave something the buyer hasn’t asked for, ask first. What feels like a favour to you, an old sofa or a bed frame, can look like a clearing bill to them.

The dates that matter

For an HDB resale, completion is about eight weeks after HDB accepts the resale application. The date in HDB’s acceptance email is the earliest possible, and HDB won’t bring it forward. Pushing it back needs signed confirmation from both parties within a week of the acceptance letter, so check straight away whether the date works for your move.

For a private sale, completion is whatever date the contract sets. There’s no standard period, so confirm the date in the option or the sale and purchase agreement with your lawyer as soon as it’s signed, and plan from that.

Plan the clearing backwards from completion

A plan that works for many sales, counting back from completion day:

1. As soon as the sale is agreed

   Decide what’s coming with you, what’s staying under the agreement, and what has to go. Book movers early if you’re moving house at the same time.

2. Four to six weeks out

   Sell, give away or donate what someone else can use. Charities and buyers need time to collect, and anything still here in the last week will probably be disposed of instead.

3. Two to three weeks out

   Book the clearing for whatever’s left, for a date several days before completion. Tell the clearance company about anything awkward, such as heavy items, a household shelter full of boxes, or paint and chemicals they may not take.

4. The last few days

   Walk through the empty home, open every cupboard, and check the household shelter, the service yard and the tops of the wardrobes. Then clean, take photos of each room, and gather the keys and access cards.

If something is left behind

At best, anything left behind means an awkward phone call and a clearing bill. At worst, it holds up completion or becomes a claim against you. The simplest protection is the final walk-through and a set of dated photos of the empty home, taken just before you hand over the keys.