It depends on how long you have been paying. Under the Maceda Law (RA 6552, the Realty Installment Buyer Protection Act), if you have paid at least two years of installments on a residential house, lot, or condominium unit and then default, the seller cannot simply keep everything: on cancellation you are entitled to a cash surrender value of 50% of your total payments (rising after five years). If you have paid less than two years, you get a grace period of not less than 60 days to catch up, but there is no automatic cash refund. The developer must serve a notarized notice and pay any cash surrender value before a cancellation is valid. Maceda Law covers residential installment sales; it does not cover industrial lots, commercial buildings, or land sold under agrarian reform.
Read the full answer, sources & FAQ →Under Section 3 of the Maceda Law (RA 6552), if you have paid at least two years of installments, the cash surrender value on cancellation is 50% of the total payments you made. After five years of installments, it increases by an additional 5% for every year beyond the fifth, but the total can never exceed 90% of your total payments. 'Total payments' refers to the installment payments made — the law's own phrasing is 'fifty per cent of the total payments made.' The seller cannot validly cancel the contract until this cash surrender value is actually paid to you.
Read the full answer, sources & FAQ →Under the Maceda Law (RA 6552), if you have paid at least two years of installments, you get a grace period of one month for every year of installment payments you have made — for example, five years of payments earns a five-month grace period. This right can be exercised only once every five years. If you have paid less than two years, the seller must still give you a grace period of not less than 60 days from the date the installment fell due. Paying the arrears within the grace period reinstates your contract, and no interest is charged on the installments you catch up on.
Read the full answer, sources & FAQ →No. Under the Maceda Law (RA 6552), a seller cannot validly cancel a residential installment contract by mere demand or by a clause in the fine print. Cancellation takes effect only after 30 days from your receipt of a notice of cancellation or a demand for rescission delivered by a notarial act, and — if you have paid at least two years — only upon full payment to you of the cash surrender value. The Supreme Court has repeatedly voided cancellations that skipped the notarized notice or the cash-surrender-value payment. Until both steps are properly done, your contract is still alive.
Read the full answer, sources & FAQ →Yes, but less than a two-year buyer. Under Section 4 of the Maceda Law (RA 6552), a buyer who has paid less than two years of installments is entitled to a grace period of not less than 60 days from the date the installment became due to pay the unpaid installments without additional interest. If you still cannot pay, the seller may cancel the contract — but only after 30 days from your receipt of a notarized notice of cancellation. A buyer with less than two years paid is NOT entitled to a cash surrender value refund, so the priority is to use the 60-day window to catch up or negotiate.
Read the full answer, sources & FAQ →Under PD 957 (the Subdivision and Condominium Buyers' Protective Decree), the developer must deliver the title of the lot or unit to you upon your full payment (Section 25). If they refuse or keep stalling, you can file a complaint against the developer with the Human Settlements Adjudication Commission (HSAC), the quasi-judicial body that took over the former HLURB's adjudication function under RA 11201, at the HSAC Regional Adjudication Branch covering the project's location. HSAC can order the developer to deliver the title, deliver the finished unit, or refund what you paid. Keep your contract, official receipts, and every written follow-up.
Read the full answer, sources & FAQ →Possibly, yes. Under Section 23 of PD 957, if the developer fails to develop the subdivision or condominium project according to the approved plans and within the time limit, you may — after giving due notice to the developer — desist from paying further installments, and none of your payments will be forfeited. At your option, you can instead be reimbursed the total amount you paid, including amortization interests but excluding delinquency interests, with interest at the legal rate. Section 20 requires the developer to finish the promised facilities within one year of the license to sell (or the period fixed by the regulator). Serve a written notice first and file with the HSAC if they don't comply.
Read the full answer, sources & FAQ →Complaints by buyers against subdivision and condominium developers are filed with the Human Settlements Adjudication Commission (HSAC), the quasi-judicial body that took over the adjudication function of the former HLURB under RA 11201 (the DHSUD charter, 2019). File at the HSAC Regional Adjudication Branch with jurisdiction over the region where the project is located. HSAC hears claims for refunds, delivery of title or the unit, and unsound real-estate business practices under PD 957. Regulatory and licensing matters (like a developer selling without a license) are handled by DHSUD itself. Bring your contract, official receipts, advertisements/brochures, and written correspondence.
Read the full answer, sources & FAQ →Yes. Under Section 5 of PD 957, an owner or developer cannot sell any subdivision lot or condominium unit in a registered project unless it has first obtained a License to Sell from the regulator (now DHSUD, successor to the HLURB). Selling without a valid License to Sell is a violation of PD 957. Before you pay, ask for the project's Certificate of Registration and License to Sell and verify them with DHSUD — this is one of the strongest early signals of whether a developer is legitimate.
Read the full answer, sources & FAQ →For covered units, rent increases are capped by the Rent Control Act (RA 9653), which has been kept in force by later government issuances. The Act covers residential units renting from ₱1 up to ₱10,000 a month in Metro Manila and other highly urbanized cities, and up to ₱5,000 a month everywhere else. For those covered units, the allowable annual increase is not open-ended — it is set by the periodic rent-control resolution of the DHSUD's National Human Settlements Board (NHSB). The current resolution (NHSB Resolution No. 2024-001, covering 2025–2026) caps increases for units still occupied by the same tenant at 2.3% for 2025 and 1% for 2026. Units renting above the coverage ceiling are not protected by these caps.
Read the full answer, sources & FAQ →Under Section 7 of the Rent Control Act (RA 9653), for covered units a lessor cannot demand more than one month advance rent, nor more than two months deposit, and that deposit must be kept in a bank under the lessor's account for the duration of the lease. The deposit is meant to answer for unpaid utilities and repairs of damage beyond normal wear and tear at the end of the lease — it is not automatically forfeited. If the landlord withholds it without a valid, itemized reason, demand it in writing; unresolved deposit disputes over amounts at or below ₱1,000,000 can be pursued in small claims court without a lawyer.
Read the full answer, sources & FAQ →Under Section 9 of the Rent Control Act (RA 9653), a covered tenant may be judicially ejected only on specific grounds: assigning or subleasing the unit without the lessor's written consent; arrears of at least three months of rent; the lessor's own legitimate need to repossess the property for personal or immediate-family use (subject to conditions, including at least three months' formal notice and that the lessor does not own another available residential unit); the need to make necessary repairs of a condemned building; and the expiration of the lease period. These are grounds for a court case — a landlord who wants you out must still go through the proper judicial ejectment process, not self-help.
Read the full answer, sources & FAQ →No. In the Philippines a landlord cannot lawfully evict a tenant through self-help — changing the locks, cutting off utilities, removing your belongings, or physically forcing you out. Eviction must go through a court case (an unlawful-detainer or ejectment suit under Rule 70 of the Rules of Court), and only on the grounds allowed by the Rent Control Act (RA 9653) for covered units. A landlord who resorts to force or intimidation may face civil and even criminal liability. Only a court, through a sheriff enforcing a writ of execution, can carry out an eviction.
Read the full answer, sources & FAQ →Often, yes, if you act early. Pag-IBIG (HDMF, under RA 9679) runs a loan-restructuring program that lets a borrower in arrears renegotiate the loan — extending the term, consolidating unpaid amortizations into a new principal, and sometimes condoning penalties — to make payments manageable and cure the default before foreclosure. If foreclosure does proceed, Pag-IBIG typically uses extrajudicial foreclosure under Act No. 3135, which gives the borrower a right of redemption — generally one year from the registration of the certificate of sale — to buy the property back by paying the redemption price. Contact Pag-IBIG the moment you fall behind; the earlier you engage, the more options remain.
Read the full answer, sources & FAQ →A contract to sell is an agreement to buy real estate on installments where the seller keeps the title until you finish paying — it is the classic setup the Maceda Law (RA 6552) protects, so a residential buyer who has paid two years or more gets the cash-surrender-value and grace-period safeguards. 'Rent-to-own' is a marketing label that can be structured either as a genuine installment purchase (in which case Maceda-type protections can apply once it is really a sale on installment) or as a lease with only an option to buy (governed mainly by lease/rent rules until the option is exercised). What controls is the substance of the deal, not the label — read whether you are buying on installment or merely renting with a future option, and check whether the property is residential and PD 957-covered.
Read the full answer, sources & FAQ →