Last updated 24 October 2026 — by Adrian Tan, SDM. Marketing guidance, not legal advice. References are to Singapore legislation as shown on Singapore Statutes Online on 24 October 2026, and to HDB, URA, SFA, ACRA and IRAS pages as read on that date. Where we interpret how a rule applies, we say so.
A home baker in Tampines takes Chinese New Year orders through Instagram. A freelance designer in a Bishan flat wants a proper business name and a website. A nail technician in Punggol thinks about a small sign on her door. A tutor in Clementi wants to drop flyers into letterboxes on the block. A Bukit Timah condo owner runs a skincare label from the spare room and ships across the island.
Singapore makes it easy to start a business from home. For most small-scale activities there is nothing to apply for at all. But the rules on how you can promote that business are scattered across HDB, URA, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), ACRA, your Town Council and the PDPA, and no single official page puts them together. Put them side by side and one pattern is clear: the internet is the only shopfront a home business is allowed. Nothing may be displayed at the home itself, and the estate’s common areas come with their own limits.
This guide is for home bakers, makers, tutors, beauty freelancers, consultants and anyone else marketing a business from an HDB flat or private home. It covers the two schemes, what you can and cannot do online and offline, food labels, your business name and address, WhatsApp marketing, and four worked examples.
The short version
- No signs, posters or ads at your home. HDB and URA both prohibit advertisements, signage or posters at the premises, under both home business schemes.
- Online promotion is expressly allowed. SFA says home food businesses may promote themselves through online channels and product labels.
- Your flat is not your business address by default. ACRA says you need HDB or URA approval, through the Home Office Scheme, to register a business at your home.
- Pre-packed food needs a full label, including the maker’s name and address; a post office address is not enough.
- Flyers in the estate: yes. Selling or signs on common property: no, without Town Council permission, with fines of up to $5,000.
- WhatsApp promotions to Singapore numbers fall under the Do Not Call rules, whatever the size of your business.
Two schemes, two very different businesses
HDB and URA each run two schemes, and the difference between them decides almost everything about how you can market.
The Home-Based Business Scheme
HDB’s page, last updated 12 September 2025, says you may carry out small-scale home-based business activities to supplement your income without HDB’s approval. The business must be run by the flat’s owners, registered occupants or tenants (tenants need the owner’s consent), and third parties and non-resident employees may not work in the flat. HDB’s examples of permitted activities include small-scale baking, hairdressing and beauty services, manicures and pedicures, tuition for up to three students at a time, sewing, and freelance art, writing, photography and journalism. Massage and animal-related businesses, such as selling, grooming or boarding animals, are not allowed in HDB flats.
The conditions that matter for marketing: no advertisements, signage or posters at the flat; no extraneous traffic; no nuisance from noise, smell, smoke or litter; no heavy equipment; and no large-scale storage, frequent loading and unloading or use of the flat as a distribution centre. Break the rules and HDB can require you to stop or relocate. URA’s version for private homes works the same way: no approval, no non-resident employees, and no advertisements, signage or posters at the premises.
The Home Office Scheme
The Home Office Scheme is for businesses that need the home as an office, including as a registered business address. You register through GoBusiness, with a non-refundable $20 fee for HDB flats; URA’s fee for private homes is also $20, a one-time permit since five-yearly renewals were dropped in 2010. Up to two non-residents may work there. In exchange, the business must be administrative in nature: no clients or customers visiting, no selling of physical goods in or around the home, no solicitation such as flyers or door-to-door visits, and no advertisements, signage or posters.
The two schemes pull in opposite directions. The free scheme lets customers’ orders, students and beauty clients reach you, but gives you no formal business address. The Home Office Scheme gives you the address but bars customers, goods and solicitation. HDB’s FAQ explains why: it lets even businesses on its non-permitted list, such as retail, catering or beauty services, use the flat purely as an admin office or ACRA address, but the selling and servicing must then happen elsewhere.
Online is your shopfront
SFA’s FAQ is the clearest official statement. Home-based food businesses are not prohibited from promoting their business through online channels or other means such as labels on their products, but may not display advertisements, signage or posters at their homes. SFA also says it does not restrict food businesses, licensed or not, from operating on food delivery platforms; whether a platform accepts a home business is the platform’s decision.
In our reading, the same logic applies to every home business under the HDB and URA schemes: the rules ban displays at the premises, not promotion as such. That leaves you free to market through:
- Social media. Instagram, TikTok and Facebook are where most home bakers and beauty freelancers find customers. Our guide to social media for F&B businesses in Singapore covers content that sells food.
- A simple website or online store, with the legal pages any business site needs, set out in our guide to website legal requirements in Singapore.
- Marketplaces and delivery platforms, subject to each platform’s own rules.
- Product packaging and labels, which SFA expressly mentions.
- WhatsApp and email, subject to the PDPA rules below.
One question no official source answers is whether publishing your home address online, for example on a Google Business Profile, counts as advertising “at” the home. We found no HDB, URA or SFA guidance on it, so we do not claim it either way. Many home businesses list a service area or “pickup details on order” rather than a full address, which also protects their privacy. Our guide to Google Business Profile optimisation in Singapore explains how service-area listings work.
Your business name, UEN and address
Do you need to register?
Under section 4 of the Business Names Registration Act 2014, you need not register a business if you trade only under your own full name, or for a partnership, under the full names of all partners. You may still register voluntarily. Trade under any other name, such as “Bake My Day SG” or “Glow Studio”, and registration with ACRA is required. Carrying on business without registering when you must is an offence under section 35(1), with a fine of up to $10,000, up to two years’ imprisonment, or both. ACRA’s guidance says changes to your registered particulars must be filed within 14 days.
Can you use your home address?
ACRA’s guidance says you can use your home address under the Home Office Scheme, and that you need approval from HDB or URA before you register. So a home baker trading as a registered business name needs either the Home Office Scheme or another address for ACRA purposes. Be careful if you also sell from home: the Home Office Scheme bars selling physical goods in or around the flat, so check with HDB or URA before combining it with a home bakery or shop, or register at another address.
Showing your registration number
If you incorporate a private limited company, section 144(1A) of the Companies Act requires the company’s registration number to appear on its business letters, statements of account, invoices, official notices and publications. We found no equivalent display rule for sole proprietorships in the Business Names Registration Act. Showing your UEN on your website and invoices is still good practice, because it lets customers check you are real.
Selling food online: the label rules
SFA’s position is that home-based food businesses currently do not need an SFA licence. Its food safety course is recommended, not mandatory. What SFA does restrict is the type of business and the source of ingredients. Home food businesses may not offer catering, such as buffet lines or packed meals, may not sell to SFA-licensed retailers or cook for temporary fairs, and may not sell ready-to-eat raw seafood. Ingredients must be legally imported or come from licensed suppliers, not from other home businesses or personal travel.
Once food is pre-packed, the Food Regulations apply in full. “Prepacked” means packed or made up in advance ready for sale in a wrapper or container, which covers a jar of sambal, a box of cookies sealed for delivery or a bottle of cold brew. Regulation 5(1) says no person may advertise or sell pre-packed food without a compliant label, and it must be in English.
| Label element (Food Regulations reg 5(4)) | Home-business note |
|---|---|
| Common name of the food | “Pineapple tarts”, not just your brand name |
| Ingredients in descending order by weight | Every ingredient, including fillings and glazes |
| Allergens (eight groups) | Nuts, eggs, milk, wheat and so on must be declared |
| Net quantity | Weight or volume of the contents |
| Lot or batch number (from 30 Jan 2026) | A simple date-and-batch code works for small runs |
| Name and address of the maker, packer or local vendor, plus country of origin | A post office address is not enough |
The address requirement is where home bakers get stuck: the label must carry a real address. This is a legal requirement for the label, which is different from advertising the address at the flat. Regulation 9 adds that labels and matter supplied or displayed with food must not be false or misleading, and must not claim the food prevents or cures disease. A 2025 amendment in force from 30 January 2026 also brought “free from non-permitted additive” style claims within the banned list. Our guide to food advertising claims in Singapore covers health, “natural” and “organic” wording in more detail.
Offline marketing in the estate
Some neighbourhood marketing works well for home businesses, but HDB estates are governed by Town Council by-laws. From 1 June 2026, the Town Councils (Model By-laws) Rules 2026 apply the same by-laws in every Town Council.
- Selling on common property. By-law 5(1) bars anyone, without permission, from selling, offering or advertising goods or services for sale on common property, or setting up a stall, table or show board. A pop-up table at the void deck to sell cookies needs Town Council permission.
- Flyers. By-law 5(2) says the rule does not stop someone who only distributes a circular, pamphlet or flyer without selling. In our reading, putting flyers in letterboxes is not caught by by-law 5, though it is a solicitation that the Home Office Scheme forbids.
- Signs and posters. By-law 16(b) bars displaying a sign, including an advertisement, on common property without permission, and by-law 15(c) bars defacing common property. A poster on the lift lobby notice board or a sticker on neighbours’ doors falls here. In 2017, MND said in a written answer that Town Councils can act against unauthorised flyer pasting and typically warn advertisers who put stickers on doors.
Breaching a by-law carries a fine of up to $5,000 under section 28(9) of the Town Councils Act. For signs outside the estate, the general vandalism and signage rules in our guide to outdoor signage rules in Singapore apply.
Condo owners face a different set of rules: the prescribed by-laws under the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act, plus their own MCST’s by-laws, which can limit commercial activity on common property and require you to tell the MCST if the use of your unit changes. We found no official guidance specific to home businesses in condos, so read your MCST’s by-laws before you advertise in the estate or invite customers in.
WhatsApp, SMS and the Do Not Call rules
WhatsApp is the main sales channel for many home businesses, and the PDPA’s Do Not Call provisions do not exempt small ones. Before sending a marketing message to a Singapore phone number, including by WhatsApp, section 43 requires a valid check of the Do Not Call Register, unless the person has given clear and unambiguous consent, evidenced in writing or another accessible form. The financial penalty under section 48J for breaching the DNC provisions is up to $200,000 for an individual and up to $1 million in other cases.
In practice, a home business can stay safe by asking customers at checkout or in the first chat whether they would like to hear about future bakes or promotions, and keeping a record of the “yes”. Replying to an order enquiry is not a marketing message; a broadcast of next month’s menu to everyone who ever messaged you is. Our full guide to WhatsApp marketing rules in Singapore covers broadcasts, templates and unsubscribe rules.
When you outgrow the home
Some signs that the business has outgrown the schemes:
- You need staff working in the flat. The Home-Based Business Scheme allows no non-resident employees.
- You want to cater events or supply cafés. SFA does not allow home food businesses to cater or sell to licensed retailers; a licensed kitchen is needed.
- Customers queue at your door or deliveries arrive daily, which runs into the “no extraneous traffic” and “no distribution centre” conditions.
- Turnover approaches $1 million. IRAS requires GST registration once taxable turnover exceeds $1 million, on a retrospective calendar-year test or a prospective 12-month test.
Four worked examples
1. The Tampines home baker
Baking is a permitted activity, and she markets on Instagram and through a pre-order form. Her cookie jars are pre-packed, so each label carries the common name, ingredients, allergens, net weight, a batch code and a real address. She trades under a brand name, so she registers with ACRA; because the Home Office Scheme bars selling goods at the flat, she checks with HDB before using her flat as the registered address. No sign goes on the door; customers collect at a stated time, not in a stream.
2. The Bishan freelance designer
An administrative business with no customer visits fits the Home Office Scheme well. He pays the $20 fee, registers his business name with his flat as the address, and markets through his website, LinkedIn and a portfolio site. Because the Home Office Scheme bars solicitation, he does not flyer the estate.
3. The Punggol nail technician
Manicures are permitted under the Home-Based Business Scheme, but a door sign is not. She uses an Instagram profile, a booking link and a service-area listing instead, and sends booking reminders, which are not marketing, while asking clients separately whether they want promotions.
4. The Clementi tutor
Tuition for up to three students at a time is permitted. Letterbox flyers are not caught by the Town Council’s selling ban, but a poster in the lift lobby needs permission. He gets better results from a parents’ WhatsApp referral offer, sent only to parents who opted in.
Where this leaves you
Singapore’s home business rules are generous about what you can do and strict about what you can show. Keep everything off the door and the corridor, treat the estate’s common areas as needing permission, label pre-packed food properly, sort out your business name and address with ACRA, and get consent before broadcasting on WhatsApp. Everything else, from Instagram to your own website, is open to you, which is where most home businesses win their customers anyway.
If you are ready to grow a home business online, our performance marketing team in Singapore can help you find customers through search and social, and you can see results we have delivered in our client case studies. For the wider picture, start with our complete guide to performance marketing in Singapore.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need HDB approval to run a home bakery?
No. Small-scale baking is a permitted activity under HDB’s Home-Based Business Scheme, which needs no approval, and SFA says home food businesses do not currently need an SFA licence. You must follow the scheme’s conditions, including no non-resident employees, no nuisance and no signs at the flat.
Can I put my business name on my door or window?
No. HDB and URA both prohibit advertisements, signage or posters at the home under the Home-Based Business Scheme and the Home Office Scheme. HDB says such displays would affect the residential character of the estate.
Can I register my business at my HDB address?
Only with approval. ACRA says you can use your home address under the Home Office Scheme and need HDB or URA approval before you register. The Home Office Scheme costs $20 through GoBusiness and is limited to administrative businesses with no customer visits.
Do I need to register with ACRA if I sell under my own name?
No. Under section 4 of the Business Names Registration Act 2014, trading only under your own full name does not require registration, although you may register voluntarily. Trading under any other name does, and failing to register carries a fine of up to $10,000.
Can I distribute flyers in my HDB block?
Distributing flyers without selling is not caught by the Town Council by-law against selling on common property, but posting signs or selling there needs Town Council permission, with fines of up to $5,000. If you are on the Home Office Scheme, flyers and door-to-door solicitation are not allowed at all.
Can I WhatsApp past customers with promotions?
Only with a valid Do Not Call Register check or their clear and unambiguous consent, recorded so you can produce it later. The PDPA’s Do Not Call rules apply to WhatsApp messages to Singapore numbers, and penalties reach $200,000 for an individual.
