Whether to stay depends on how much is being done. Painting or new flooring in one room can be lived with. Hacking, a new kitchen or a new bathroom usually can’t: the dust gets everywhere, and for days or weeks you may have no working kitchen or bathroom.
Signs you should move out
- Walls or floors are being hacked: HDB limits the noisiest work to weekdays, 9am to 5pm, but the dust lasts much longer.
- The kitchen or your only bathroom is being redone.
- The gas will be off: City Energy asks for the gas supply to be temporarily cut off and the meter removed during renovation.
- Someone at home is very young, elderly, unwell or works from home.
Where to stay
- Family or friends, the most common answer.
- A hotel: URA says hotels have no minimum stay.
- A serviced apartment: URA sets a 7-night minimum.
- A rented flat: private homes and HDB flats can’t be let for stays shorter than 3 consecutive months, so this only works for a long renovation.
Ask your contractor for the schedule in writing before you book, and allow for slippage.
Packing and storage
Anything left in the home during the works will get dusty, and may get damaged or in the way. Before the works start:
- decide what stays, what goes into storage and what goes for good, room by room;
- clear out what you’re not keeping, so it isn’t hacked around or packed up and stored for nothing;
- move what you’re keeping into storage, or into one room the contractor agrees to leave alone and seal off.
If you need movers, HomeToMoved, run by the same team as SpaceToReno, matches you with movers for moves within Singapore.
Before you hand over the keys
- Agree access: who holds keys and access cards, and that work keeps to the permitted hours. See working hours and neighbours.
- Check the permit and notices: in HDB flats the Notice of Renovation must be displayed outside the flat until the works are done, and neighbours must have had written notice.
- Photograph everything you’re keeping, including built-ins and the common corridor outside your door.
- Agree how you’ll check progress: visits at each stage, before each stage payment.
- Mark what mustn’t be touched, such as the household shelter walls and door: see the household shelter.
When the works are done, a proper clean comes before you move back in. OurKampung’s after-renovation checklist covers what to check, clear and clean.
Questions people ask
Can I stay in my flat during a renovation?
It’s your choice, and for a small job such as painting or new flooring in one room many people stay. For hacking and wet works in kitchens and bathrooms, you may lose cooking and washing facilities, and City Energy asks for the gas supply to be cut off and the meter removed during renovation.
Can I rent a flat for just a few weeks?
Not a private home or HDB flat. URA says homes can’t be let for stays of less than 3 consecutive months. Hotels have no minimum stay, and serviced apartments have a minimum of 7 nights.
Should I give my contractor a key?
If you won’t be there, they’ll need access. Agree who holds keys and access cards, the working hours (in HDB flats, 9am to 6pm on weekdays and Saturdays), and how and when you’ll visit to check progress.
Sources
Renovation rules change. We checked this guide against these official pages on 5 October 2026. If a source says something different from this guide, the source is right, and your HDB branch, condo management or BCA has the final word on your own home.
SpaceToReno is run by the team behind Junk to Clear, which also handles renovations. Where a guide links to Junk to Clear or a sister site, it’s because that step calls for the service, and the sentence says so. Enquiries sent through the form go to the same team. How SpaceToReno works
