Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Maceda Law
A client was inquiring what rights she may have left after having defaulted in the monthly installments of her residential condominium unit. She said she has already paid more than P1.5-million in installments. She is asking whether she can still get back the installment payments she had already made.I think the Maceda Law comes into play to this query.Republic Act No. 6552 is a law that seeks to protect buyers of realty on installments.It is popularly known as the Maceda law, in attribution to its author.If one is a buyer of real estate, including residential condominium, on installments, the buyer may still retain certain rights even if he defaults in his payments.If the buyer has already paid at least two years installments, he has two rights under the Maceda law.First, he can continue paying the unpaid installments due without additional interest.He must pay within the grace period.The grace period is one month for every one year of installments paid.Second, his other option is he can get a cash surrender value, or refund of the installment payments made.He can get a refund of fifty percent of his total installment payments.The buyer can opt for the cash surrender value or refund if the contract is canceled.If the buyer has paid less than two years installment, his option is to continue paying the installments.The seller has to give the buyer a grace period within which to continue paying the installments due.The grace period is not less than sixty days.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
well, in m my case i had paid the down payment for 4 months..i canceled the contract and asked for a refund. the developer told me about this LAW which of course is the reason why i could not get a refund..why must the buyers suffer further of financial burden? it is not easy for us buyers to let go of our dreams to own a property but sad to say that we can never tell what lies ahead..the only reason why we cancel is because of financial constraint/crisis..and the money that we had paid for was a hard-earned money. the forfeiture of the reservation fee is acceptable but a refund of the down payment is a big help for buyers like me who is facing a financial dilemma compare to the these developers who only think of their big profits...is this MACEDA LAW helping us Filipinos??? is the author of this deserves to be called a FILIPINO who has no heart for his countrymen?.........
Here's my case: I engage to buy a condo unit from a developer under a CTS and thru Pag-ibig. During the processing we were promise that everything will be alright. Then the move-in, we realized things were not year 2000 standards. No proper fire scape, no garbage collection at every floor - we were asked to bring it to as far as the main gate, no letter boxes, makeshift parking at P1500/month or P100/12hrs, water rate at P53.85 because it was erected at an industrial zone, there were encroachment of services from other units or other areas overhead our unit. These were all been fed to the developer but it fell to their deaf ears. Then came a time I decided to terminate and ask for a refund( Jan.07'10), the reply was the "Maceda Law". What was it? Why was it not mentioned in the Pag-ibig seminar I attended.
I was almost a year then in my amortization. I was offered P9K refund out of P115K payments and P100K downpayment, so I refused to sign the offer and the attached application for "Voluntary Cancellation" and decided to consult Pag-ibig, they advise me to write a letter to HUDCC and HUDCC endorse it to HLURB, but no letter was coming forth. Then June 01, 2010 I recieved a notice of 2 months deafault from Pag-ibig and a buyback. June 09,2010 I got a letter from the Developer, dated March 24 2010, stating that, "I voluntarily terminated" my account and another letter in the same envelope "Notice to Vacate" the unit in 30 days. I checked with the developer's legal department and they told me that my 1st letter dated Jan. 07, 2010 demanding a refund and termination was considered as voluntary cancellation of account, but I did not sign what they were asking me to sign in agreement to the P9K refund offer,next is,why 'til March 2010 they were debiting my PDCs, why then when I called their office we were told everything is ok & disregard the Pag-ibig Notice, last why the letter stating the cancellation came togehter with the notice to vacate delivered June 04,2010. Their reply is, "we don't know", they assumed that they did right and it was up to me why did I not received the letter the day I should. The last they told me, "but you have the option to buy the unit again at the current value". Now, someone tell me, :why we are the only christian nation in asia?".
Why the "Maceda Law" and "Contract to Sell" weren't mention in the Pag-ibig seminar? These schemes can be bias and it can be manupulated. If I ask the Pag-ibig, they will tell me to check it with the developer.
The end of the story is, I was only complaining about Builiding and Fire Safety standard at first, and when I didn't get any action I told them if I could get my money back and terminate the contract. Developers are better protected by this law, even if they deliver housing units of poor standards, because they have your money, you can compalin but you will not get your money back. Your money can be hostage so you will comply to what ever the developer imposed to their advantage and to your demise.
Ganyan ka lupet ang developer, pag ibig at batas sa pinas. Sila sila nagkakampihan at oinaiikot lang tayong mga buyer na walang hangad kundi ang magkaroon ng maayos na tirahan.
Post a Comment