BTO Defects Check: What to Do After Key Collection

Do the defects check before anything else — before renovation, before furniture, ideally within the first week of collecting keys. Your flat is covered by a 12-month Defects Liability Period from the date of key collection, and HDB's contractors rectify workmanship defects free of charge during it.

The practical deadline is tighter than twelve months, though. Once your renovation starts, it becomes difficult to prove a chipped tile was there before your contractor was, so aim to submit your defects list within the first 30 days — before any works begin.

What is the Defects Liability Period?

A 12-month window from key collection during which HDB is responsible for rectifying workmanship and material defects in your new flat, at no cost to you. It covers what the builder got wrong, not what wears out or what you damage.

Report everything, including things that feel too small to mention. Rectification is free, HDB encourages the reporting, and a hairline crack you shrug at in month one is a conversation you can't have in month thirteen.

What do you need before you inspect?

Working water and electricity, plus about two hours and a few household items. Activate your SP Group account at least a day before key collection, or you'll arrive to a flat where you can't test a single tap or switch.

• Masking tape and a marker — tape beside each defect, numbered, so photos are self-explanatory
• Your phone — photograph every tagged item with the tape number visible
• A tennis ball or marble — roll it to find floors that fall the wrong way
• A phone charger or small appliance — to test every socket, not just the ones near the door
• A torch — for under sinks, inside cabinets and behind the water heater
• A ladder or step stool — ceilings and high windows count too

What should you check, room by room?

Work one room at a time, top to bottom: ceiling, walls, windows, doors, floor, then fittings. A systematic sweep finds far more than wandering around looking for problems.

Bathrooms and the service yard deserve the most patience. Water problems are the ones that get expensive later, and they're invisible unless you actually run the water.

How do you report defects to HDB?

Submit the Defects Feedback Form to your Building Service Centre — the BSC serving your block — with your list and photos. Rectification is scheduled with you, and works are carried out by HDB's own contractors.

1. Compile your tagged list room by room, with photos and short descriptions.
2. Submit to the BSC within 30 days if you can, and certainly before renovation starts.
3. Keep a copy of the submission and note the date.
4. Be present at rectification if possible, and check each item before signing it off.
5. If something is missed or the fix isn't right, raise it again while you're still inside the 12 months.

Should you hire a professional defects inspector?

Optional, and worth it if you're time-poor or unsure what you're looking at. Professional inspections typically cost a few hundred dollars for a flat and come with a documented report, thermal or moisture checks, and an eye trained on the things owners miss.

Plenty of homeowners do a thorough job themselves — the checklist above is most of it. The honest test: if you'd struggle to tell a settlement crack from a plastering flaw, or you can't spare an unhurried two hours, pay someone. Condo and EC owners have a parallel process with the developer rather than HDB; our condo defects checklist covers that version.

Can you start renovation before defects are rectified?

You can, but sequence it properly: submit the list first, get the structural and waterproofing items fixed, then let your renovation begin. Cosmetic items in areas you're about to change — a scuffed wall you're repainting anyway — can be dropped.

What you shouldn't do is start hacking and tiling before anyone has recorded the flat's original condition. Once a contractor has worked in a room, responsibility for what's wrong in it becomes a negotiation. Our BTO renovation timeline puts the defects check where it belongs in the schedule, alongside permits and design development.

What isn't covered by the Defects Liability Period?

Anything you or your contractor caused, normal wear and tear, and consequences of your own renovation works. Hack a wall and crack the tiles next to it, and that's yours.

• Damage from renovation, moving furniture, or drilling
• Wear on items with their own manufacturer warranty — the warranty applies instead
• Changes you made and then disliked
• Defects reported after the 12 months have run

One related rule worth knowing before you plan works: bathroom floors in new flats sit on a waterproofing membrane, and hacking those tiles within the first three years affects the warranty on it, which is why most new flats keep their original bathroom floor. HDB's renovation approval guidelines set out what needs a permit before you begin.

What comes after the defects check?

Design, permits, then site works — in that order. With the flat recorded and the list submitted, you can hand a designer an accurate picture of what you're starting from.

Most owners we work with have already done the defects walk before the first design meeting, and it makes that meeting far more productive: we're planning around known conditions rather than assumptions. If you're at that stage, our HDB interior design service starts with the floor plan and the defects list side by side.

What if you bought a resale flat instead?

There's no Defects Liability Period on a resale flat — you buy it as it stands, so the inspection happens before you commit, not after. That makes the pre-purchase walkthrough the equivalent moment, and it's worth being thorough.

Check the same things, plus what age adds: the distribution board and whether it has an RCCB, water pressure and pipe condition, ceiling stains that suggest a leak from above, window frames, and any sign of previous unauthorised works. Anything you find is either a negotiating point or a renovation cost, which is why we suggest doing it before the budget is fixed — our resale renovation cost guide covers what the common findings translate into.

The bottom line

Turn on the utilities before key collection, spend two unhurried hours tagging and photographing everything, submit to the BSC inside 30 days, and get the water-related items fixed before renovation starts. It's the cheapest work you'll ever have done on your flat — it costs nothing but an afternoon.