Found at: http://www.hlurb.gov.ph/article/articleprint/1986/-1/101/
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HLURB Steps Up Information Campaign to Help Homebuyers
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HLURB Final
News and Updates
The Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) has embarked on a focused information campaign aimed at strengthening the protection to the buyers of subdivision lots and condominium units.
The move came on the heels of the directive of Vice-President and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Chairman Noli De Castro to all key shelter agencies to enhance their public assistance/service to their respective clients and to ensure that all inquiries and complaints are attended to. Specifically, VP De Castro put the Board to task amid complaints by prospective homebuyers, particularly Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), who fell prey to unscrupulous real estate developers, brokers and contractors.
Real estate activity has been on the upswing over the past six years attributive to the country’s stable economy and the systemic reforms implemented by government housing agencies. Its growth was further buoyed by the strong production and sales of residential developments in subdivisions and high-rise condominium projects fueled by the significant contributions of the remittances of overseas Filipino workers and Filipino immigrants. (Click the image to view graphical representation of Licenses to Sell Issued for CY 2001-2006)
This positive development has apparently caught the attention of some developers with ill motives who pounced on the opportunity by resorting to pre-selling. That is marketing the lot or house or unit even before starting the project or while it is under construction.
A lot of people buy during this pre-selling stage because the prices are lower and the rates are better since the developer need not add a premium for the cost of his money. But the trade off is that the risks of non-completion are higher too.
As this developed, the vice-president urged the regulatory agency to focus on the tightening the monitoring of housing projects, strengthening its arbitration and mediation functions and speeding up the resolution of cases.
He has also ordered stricter monitoring of developers’ compliance with the 20% balanced housing requirement and violation of housing regulations.
Noting that many buyers are suffering unnecessarily due to lack of knowledge about investment in the real estate business, the Board launched an information drive to increase public awareness and to help buyers make intelligent decisions without falling into unsuspecting tricks and traps that normally follow deals of this nature.
To achieve its purpose, the agency has set up the following: Public Assistance Desk (PAD) at HLURB Central and its 16 Regional Field Office (RFO), Suggestion/Complaint Boxes in areas where clients transact business, and Work/Process Flowcharts of requirements for different transactions. Other forms of information vehicles have also been used such as primers or flyers printed in English or Tagalog for dissemination to the public at PADs, updated office website www.hlurb.gov.ph), and an 8 A.M.- 5 P..M. Hotline (926 67 82) except on Saturdays and Sundays. The Board has also designated talking-heads for radio-TV interviews.
