Bartley GreenRise key collection: what to check in your 3-room or 4-room flat

Bartley GreenRise is a small BTO bounded by Bartley Road, Bidadari Park Drive and Bartley Walk, a few minutes' walk from Bartley MRT. It was launched in the February 2021 BTO exercise with 387 flats in 3 blocks of 11 to 17 storeys. The estimate at launch was the second quarter of 2025, and the BTOHQ tracker now shows it nearly complete, around December 2026. Your own HDB letter is the date that counts. Here's how to check your flat properly in one visit.

The deadline that matters

Report defects to your Building Service Centre (BSC) within one month of collecting your keys, and before your renovation starts. The 12-month defects liability period covers problems that appear later, but the first month is when it's easiest to show a defect was there from the start.

Only two flat types, so plan by rooms

There are just two flat types here: 96 3-room flats and 291 4-room flats. Neither is huge, so a full check in one visit is realistic if you stick to a plan.

• 3-room: allow about an hour and a half. With less floor to cover, you can test every tile and every socket without rushing.
• 4-room: allow two hours or more. Do the bathrooms and kitchen first while you're fresh, because water problems are the ones you least want to miss.
• Mind the service yard and the bedroom corners. These are the spots people skip once they've "finished" the big rooms.
• Short of time? Come back for a second visit. You have the month, so there's no need to rush the last room.

Stacks facing Bartley Road or the school

A review of the launch noted two things worth knowing. Stacks facing Bartley Road can expect traffic noise, and stacks facing Maris Stella High School can expect some noise during school hours. So if you're on either side, take a little longer over the windows.

• Shut and lock every panel, then look for gaps, loose rubber seals and missing sealant around the frame.
• Listen with the windows shut. If one window lets in clearly more noise than the others, look closely at how that panel sits in its frame.
• Slide each panel the whole way. It should move smoothly and not catch at any point.
• Stay inside. Check from inside the flat and don't lean out, especially on the higher floors.

More in how to check windows at key collection.

What to tap and test in every room

• Tap every tile, including the ones at doorways and along the walls. A dull, hollow sound means a hollow tile. See how to check for hollow tiles.
• Walls and ceilings: hold your phone torch flat against the wall and look along it for cracks and uneven paint. See wall and ceiling cracks.
• Sockets and switches: test every one. See the electrical check.
• Bathrooms: run the tap and shower, flush, look under the basin and pour water near the floor trap. See the bathroom check and the floor trap test.
• Main door and gate: every key you were given should lock and open them. See doors, gate and locks.
• Optional items: if you skipped flooring or internal doors at booking, they won't be there, and that isn't a defect. If you paid for them, check them as carefully as everything else.

Getting there and what to bring

Bartley MRT is close: listings put it about 3 to 4 minutes' walk away, using the overhead bridge from Exit B. That makes it easy to leave the car at home, but also means you carry your own kit. One more thing if you drive: a launch review noted that Bartley Walk is a single-lane road that gets busy at school hours, so avoid arriving or leaving at those times.

Pack painter's tape, a marker, a coin, a bottle of water for the drain test, and a charger. Full list: what to bring on key collection day.

A simple plan for the first visit

1. Go room by room. In each room: floor, walls, ceiling, doors, windows, sockets, then anything with water.
2. Number each defect on tape (#01, #02…), then take one close-up and one wide photo with the number showing. The BSC uses the numbers to find each spot.
3. Mark them on a floor plan. A quick sketch with the numbers on it saves the contractor time and saves you a second visit.
4. Write one clean list, grouped by room, and submit it within the month. Check the repairs when they're done and report anything that wasn't fixed.

Every room and what to check is in the room-by-room BTO defect checklist. Prefer paper? There's a free printable version with tick boxes and number labels. Or use the free KeyDay app on your phone: it numbers each defect, keeps the photos with it and marks it on your floor plan. How to hand the list in: how to report BTO defects to the BSC.

After the first month

Tiles can turn hollow and hairline cracks can appear over the first year. Do a second round before the 12 months are up: the one-year DLP check. Renovating? Check the contractor's work before the final payment with the renovation handover checklist.

Also collecting keys nearby: the Kovan Wellspring check. All projects: the full BTO key collection list.