Recently, an 89-year-old woman who has dementia sued her son, a 68-year-old retiree, for refusing to sell their HDB flat at Toa Payoh Lorong 4, of which they have equal shares.
If sold, the property, valued at S$700k, would have split the proceeds of S$350k to each of them. The property was initially purchased in 2001 under both their names as joint tenants, but changed to a tenancy-in-common in 2020.
At the time of litigation, only her son (and his tenants) lived in the house. He’s been living there for the past 20 years.
Mother needed money for dementia treatment; son needed rent for living expenses
According to her daughter, who represented her mother in court as she lacked the mental capacity to litigate, she needed the proceeds from the sale to meet her medical expenses, in light of her worsening dementia condition.
On the other hand, her son, who quit being a professional painter after a stroke, relied on rent from two rooms in the flat, earning about S$1,500 a month for his living expenses.
His argument was if the property was sold, he would no longer be able to support himself without rental income, nor would he have a place of residence.
The judge, however, pointed out that the son has additional support from welfare services due to his age and health, and would have at least S$192k in his CPF retirement fund once the house was sold and his CPF contribution from the sale got refunded.
Son argued he paid more for the house
When it came to who gets how much from the sale, the son argued that he contributed significantly more than his mother toward purchasing the house, and asked for a ratio of 60.31% : 39.69% instead of 50% : 50%.
It was noted that a significant portion of the funds used to buy the property came from selling a previous Lorong 5 Toa Payoh HDB flat in 1993. Then, the proceeds of S$398k were received solely by his mother, who then used it to repay the housing loan of S$241k to HDB to buy the current property.
Her son, however, claimed that he was entitled to half the proceeds and that his mother was holding his share in trust for him.
The High Court judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence to support this claim and documents showed that the son contributed only S$31k out of a loan of S$64k with the rest paid by his mother.
Furthermore, her son had not apportioned the more than S$400k in rental proceeds he collected since 2003 to her.
After considering both arguments and weighing the circumstances, the High Court judge ruled, on June 2023, that the sale of the property was the most equitable solution for both parties, as a lump sum pay-out of at least S$350k each will provide for either party adequately.
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If you found this article helpful, 99.co recommends Is it better to sell your HDB resale flat before, during or after a BTO month? and HDB Service and Conservancy Charges (S&CC): What you need to know (2023).
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