Rent Control Law in the Philippines
July 16, 2009
On July 14, 2009, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed into law the Rent Control Act of 2009 which will supposedly protect millions of Filipinos renting houses around the country.
Republic Act (RA) 9653, “An Act Establishing Reforms in the Regulation of Rent of Certain Residential Units, Providing the Mechanisms Therefore and For Other Purposes,” effectively extended the old Rent Control law (RA 9341) that expired on December 31, 2008.
Salient Provisions of the new Rent Control Act
- The law covers all residential units in Metro Manila with a monthly rent of P1 to P10,000 and all units in urban cities with a monthly rent of P1 to P5,000.
- Rented units which are used as motels, motel rooms, hotels and hotel rooms are not covered. Units under the rent-to-own scheme are also not covered.
- There is a one-year moratorium on rent increases from the time the law takes effect, meaning, from now until next year, there should be no increases in the rent prices of affected units.
- After such period until December 31, 2013, the increase in rent should not be more than 7% percent annually.
- Boarding houses, dormitories, rooms and bedspaces offered for rent to students can only increase their rents once a year.
- Owners of residential units cannot demand more than one-month advance rent and more than two-months deposit.
- Violators face a fine of P25,000 to P50,000, or imprisonment of one month and a day up to six months, or both.
Although the law is commendable, we believe its effectiveness may be hampered because of three things.
First, tenants must be made aware that such a law exists so that they will know their rights.
Second, tenants who may have complaints about their landlors must know the proper avenue where they can air their grievance.
Lastly, complaints must be dealt with swiftly and properly so that justice will be served for both the landlord and tenant.
We hope the law will really benefit millions of Filipino families still renting houses.
PMT Forum: Property and Real Estate Discussion
July 17th, 2009 at %I:%M %p
I agree with your concerns James, I just hope the implementing rules and regulations for the new law will address all the concerns you mentioned. May I also add that the new law does not cover rent-to-own agreements which offers greater flexibility to real estate investors. Besides, why rent when one can go for rent-to-own right?!
Jay Castillo´s latest blog ..Rent control law exempts rent-to-own agreements in the Philippines
July 18th, 2009 at %I:%M %p
Laws like this gets passed every election time. It makes you wonder what the ulterior motives are?
October 2nd, 2009 at %I:%M %p
The Rent Control Act of 2009 is commonly violated. A 3BR with 2CR will cost 15,000.00-18,000.00Php, excluding water & electric. The worst is they dont issue the official receipt. What government agency to report? Please help. Thank you.
October 2nd, 2009 at %I:%M %p
@James Bandong, if the monthly rent for a property is more than P10,000, the Rent Control Act does not apply. It only applies to rented properties within Metro Manila whose rent is below P10,000 per month.
October 5th, 2009 at %I:%M %p
Hi to everyone, could you please comment on the below instances?
-The owner of our rented apartment charged us with an additional 10% from our rent of 9k.
-The increase was demanded this July, so us, together with 3 more tenants of the building decided to not agree with it since the New Rental Law was already released.
-The owner instead served us with a legal letter demanding us to vacate our rented units.
-Though no contract was active in our 41 years of living in the said unit, we have with us every monthly bill paid as rent.
-He wouldn’t follow the Rental Law and insisted that he is going to charge additional maintenance fee as payment for his 2 security guards, a total of 28k to be divided among all tenants of the 4 storey building, raising our monthly rent to 14k.
-We decided to move out as we felt we were being pressured to do so.
Question:–What can you comment on this? Also, what i know is that since we are forcibly pushed to go, though we are constantly good payers of the monthly rent, that we are allowed a free 1 month of rent so as to give us ample time to look for another residence.Please advise if this is correct, as the owner is insisting we pay for it. You’re fact based comments and suggestions will be very helpful. Thank you.
October 8th, 2009 at %I:%M %p
is this implemented also in Cebu?
October 23rd, 2009 at %I:%M %p
Hi to everyone. I just want to ask when and in what newspaper or general circulation this Rent Control Law 2009 was published? I really need this for my research. Thank you so much in advance.
November 4th, 2009 at %I:%M %p
i need information if my landlord is allowed to increase their rent even if they do not give me official receipt of my monthly rental???
November 14th, 2009 at %I:%M %p
i have a question here folks…i hope someone could provide me an answer..are landlords/landladies allowed to lock the place ur renting or even lock the water meter, something like that, and force u to leave the place when in fact u have an agreement with them that u will pay them the whole rent when u find a new place to stay…and also where/to whom is the 3-month leeway apply? and if they’re not issuing a receipt are they considered illegal? also, theyre adding up our rent a 200 increase for water, is that possible?
thanks…:O)
January 24th, 2010 at %I:%M %p
Hi. please advise. I had been renting our apartment for six years already. I started paying at 4,500 monthly, but our landlady increased it to 5,000 last year. Then again, she decided to increase it to 6,000 this month.
Why such law being violated?how would we react to our rights? Our worry is, she might just force us to vacate if we insist about the law?We are currently residing at Pasay City.
thanks.