New member seeking legal advice

Hi, I am new here. I am currently in a situation where I need legal advice for. Found your page so I thought I would send you the message re my dilemma.

I have a house under an agreement to sell with a buyer on a 7-yr term. She has paid 3 yrs to date but not signed contract as she never got around to returning the contract I sent signed or executing an SPA to one of her daughters who live in the house, which she had been saying since the start. Now she has not paid in last 5 months. I want to file for eviction. Do I have the legal right to do it? What is the procedure?

I'm not a wealthy person and the house was my only other income apart from my current work salary.

I would appreciate an answer so I know what my options are.
Thank you.

Hi, I just passed the last 2012 bar exam, try reading Maceda Law (RA 6552), I believe there is a procedure for cancelling installment sales involving house and lot.

thank you for your reply irigahauler. its much appreciated.

i have read the maceda law as suggested. its basically the rights of the buyer if in case he stops paying the instalments for whatever reason.

how about my rights as the owner? can i cancel our agreement, especially that our contract has not been signed? and proceed to sell my property again? the problem is, her family is still living there. how can i evict them?

thank you again.

For seller, there is 2 remedies i remember that is available to you, first is to enforce the original contract and second have it rescinded.

The oral agreement of sale between the two of you is binding because there is already an execution of the contract, regardless whether or not, she signed the written contract, you cannot just evict her.

My advice to you, is to make a demand letter first, ask for payment, make a legal threat, etc., make a copy and have it signed as proof of receipt. It can be useful, later on if you decide to sue in Court.

If the other party does not pay, opt for rescission of contract, using the Maceda Law, sec. 4,
you have to send him notice for the purpose of cancelling the sale, under such provisions it specifically provide for notice to party or cancellation by notarial act. What I understand about that Sec. 4, is that if there is a stipulation in the contract between the parties for rescission, notice of cancellation is enough. However, in your case, since there is no written contract, you must demand for rescission of the sale by notarial act.

I believe you have to follow the Maceda Law, it was enacted to protect buyer of house and lot by installment. After following it, you can now evict her. File Unlawful Detainer.

thank you again for your reply.

this demand letter, should i ask a lawyer to execute it for me, or can i do it myself?

the buyer is in the US but her family is living in the house. can i have them sign and receive the demand letter on her behalf, and it will still hold?

irigahauler wrote:For seller, there is 2 remedies i remember that is available to you, first is to enforce the original contract and second have it rescinded.

The oral agreement of sale between the two of you is binding because there is already an execution of the contract, regardless whether or not, she signed the written contract, you cannot just evict her.

My advice to you, is to make a demand letter first, ask for payment, make a legal threat, etc., make a copy and have it signed as proof of receipt. It can be useful, later on if you decide to sue in Court.

If the other party does not pay, opt for rescission of contract, using the Maceda Law, sec. 4,
you have to send him notice for the purpose of cancelling the sale, under such provisions it specifically provide for notice to party or cancellation by notarial act. What I understand about that Sec. 4, is that if there is a stipulation in the contract between the parties for rescission, notice of cancellation is enough. However, in your case, since there is no written contract, you must demand for rescission of the sale by notarial act.

I believe you have to follow the Maceda Law, it was enacted to protect buyer of house and lot by installment.

you can use any, the purpose of that is to serve as extrajudicial demand, it is useful as an evidence. if you can contact the other party, either through phone, e-mail or social network, do so.

thanks again for the quick reply.

okay, please correct me if i understood you. i can execute the demand letter myself, and i can have her family sign and receive it on her behalf. is that right?

as far as trying to contact her and her family, i had been doing so for 2 weeks now and apart from the daughter responding and saying her mom may be busy at work, she had been ignoring my emails, messages on fb, and phone calls (only her voice mail picks up the call and i had left the message to call me back).

and looking at her fb wall, it seems she may be looking at other properties judging from the property photos posted by a real estate sales manager. the most recent activity i saw that she has made was liking a post on saturday 10th august, which meant she had seen my message, and most likely read it but chose to ignore.

irigahauler wrote:you can use any, the purpose of that is to serve as extrajudicial demand, it is useful as an evidence. if you can contact the other party, either through phone, e-mail or social network, do so.