Discontinue paying Condominium

July last year, I decided to get a condo. I am already paying monthly for over a year now. Can I get my money back and not to continue it anymore.

CallCenterEmployee wrote:July last year, I decided to get a condo. I am already paying monthly  for over a year now. Can I get my money back and  not to continue it anymore.

I have the same concern. I have been paying my condo for 3 years now and discontinuing it due to illness. hope somebody can help out.

CallCenterEmployee wrote:July last year, I decided to get a condo. I am already paying monthly  for over a year now. Can I get my money back and  not to continue it anymore.

Ask the developer if you can. There are developers na pumapayag like SPI.

jowooj wrote:

CallCenterEmployee wrote:July last year, I decided to get a condo. I am already paying monthly  for over a year now. Can I get my money back and  not to continue it anymore.

I have the same concern.  I have been paying my condo for 3 years now and discontinuing it due to illness.  hope somebody can help out.

If you are already on amortization period, yes you may under Maceda Law

jowooj wrote:

CallCenterEmployee wrote:July last year, I decided to get a condo. I am already paying monthly  for over a year now. Can I get my money back and  not to continue it anymore.

I have the same concern.  I have been paying my condo for 3 years now and discontinuing it due to illness.  hope somebody can help out.

Here's what the Maceda Law (Republic Act No. 6552) says;

What is the Maceda Law?

The Maceda Law, also known as The Realty Installment Buyer Act or Republic Act 6552 is the law that lays out a defaulting buyer’s rights in the Philippines with regards to his purchase of a real estate property, whether it’s a condominium unit or a house-and-lot unit in a subdivision development. This was initiated by lawmaker Ernesto Maceda and has taken into effect on August 26, 1972.

Who it applies to

Today, more and more people in the working class, especially OFW’s are buying condominiums or house-and-lots in subdivision projects. But paying them in full in just one payment is just too much. So practically, they opt to pay the equity by installment since developers or contractors installment equity payment schemes have become increasingly affordable. This is through stretching their equity payment or down payment stage to 20, 30, 40 months or sometimes longer.

If you have taken advantage of this convenience in acquiring your property, everything is okay as long as you can keep up with your payments. But times are not always good. There are times when we face difficult situations and times when we just can’t make the payments anymore. If you come into this situation, the Maceda Law was passed to help protect you. It established the rights of a qualified buyer who can’t continue with his payments anymore.

Under the Maceda Law, there are two qualification categories of buyers accorded protection. These buyers are:

1. Under Section 3 of Maceda Law, a buyer with at least 2 years of installments
2. Under Section 4 of Maceda Law, a buyer with less than 2 years of installments

Section 3

“…where the buyer has paid at least two years of installments, the buyer is entitled to the following rights in case he defaults in the payment of succeeding installments:

a.) To pay, without additional interest, the unpaid installment due within the total grace period earned by him, which is hereby fixed at the rate of one month grace period for every one year of installment payments made; provided that this right shall be exercised by the buyer only once in every five years of the life of the contract and its extensions, if any.

b.) If the contract is cancelled, the seller shall refund to the buyer the cash surrender value of the payments on the property equivalent to fifty percent of the total payments made… Down payments, deposits or options on the contract shall be included in the computation of the total number of installment payments made”

Section 4
“In case where less than two years of installments were paid, the seller shall give the buyer a grace period of not less than sixty days from the date the installment became due.

If the buyer fails to pay the installments due at the expiration of the grace period, the seller may cancel the contract after 30 days from the receipt by the buyer the notice of cancellation of the demand for rescission of the contract by a notarial act.”

In other words, Section 3 of Maceda Law indicates that the buyer has a right to a refund and grace periods as long as the buyer has paid at least two years. However, if there’s still less than 2 years of installment payments made, the buyer is only entitled to 60 days grace period as indicated in Section 4.

More importantly, there is a section in the Maceda Law that protects the buyers from the fine prints of contracts imposed by the contractors or developers. These fines prints are oftentimes neglected by the buyers to review during the contract signing.

Hope this will satisfy the queries of real estate buyers.