What Changed in HDB Renovation Rules in 2026

From 1 January 2026, the National Environment Agency prohibits the import, manufacture or sale of interior paints in Singapore containing formaldehyde at or above 0.01% weight-in-weight. It's regulated as a hazardous substance under the Environmental Protection and Management Act, so manufacturers and importers have to be able to show test reports from accredited laboratories proving their products fall under that limit. Industrial and outdoor paints are excluded, but they now have to be labelled as containing formaldehyde and not for indoor use.

This isn't a renovation-industry guideline that firms can choose to follow loosely. It's a national ban on the product itself, so every interior paint legally sold in Singapore from this year onward already complies.

Formaldehyde is a known respiratory irritant, and paint is applied across large surface areas in an enclosed HDB flat or condo: walls, ceilings, sometimes the full unit. Off-gassing after a paint job is one of the more common causes of that "new renovation smell" lingering for weeks, and formaldehyde has historically been part of that. Removing it from the product at the regulatory level, rather than relying on a contractor to voluntarily choose a low-VOC brand, closes a gap that used to depend on which paint got specified.

The existing permit system, the Directory of Renovation Contractors requirement, and the structural rules (reinforced concrete, household shelters, and so on) are unaffected. This is specifically a product-safety rule for paint, not a renovation-process rule. If you're renovating this year, the practical takeaway is simple: any interior paint you're quoted should already be compliant, so it's less something to ask about and more something you can now assume.