Business booms for Cebu City home rentals
Clarenz Jay Mendoza, 19, was clueless about what Cebu had in store for him when he first arrived in the city.
Mendoza, who was 16 years old at the time, did not know his way around the city as he barely knew any of the streets.
He was then an incoming freshman student of a university in downtown Cebu City.
“The first time I came here in the City, it was really hard for me because I did not know what are the places here that offers house rental,” Mendoza said of his dilemma before leaving his hometown in Sta. Margarita town, Samar province.
“I found out that one of my high school classmates will also be studying here in Cebu. He found a place in Alumnos (Mambaling) because that was near his school,” he recounted.
“ I decided to go with him just to find a place where I can sleep for my first year here in the city,” Mendoza added.
But the traffic and distance between his school and his friend’s place so troubled Mendoza that he opted to find another house in the heart of the city.
“I found out that there are boarding houses and dormitories in the downtown area so I moved in despite a higher rental because it is more convenient,” he said.
From spending only P1,300 for a room when he was staying with his friend, Mendoza now pays P1,750 for a bed space.
“Somehow, I can say nga pasok ra siya sa (it works with the) budget because 1,750 includes wifi connection, electricity, water, heater and iron,” Mendoza said.
With Cebu City being home to a number of top universities in the region, more and more students like Mendoza come to the city to seek better education.
And like Mendoza, they too are faced with the challenge of where to find a suitable home in a place that they find totally strange.
Rooms and bedspaces
The students’ high demand for a place to live in, has prompted many Cebu City residents to find a way to earn extra income by offering rooms or bed spaces for lease.
It is now a growing trend for business and social media has jumped on the bandwagon by finding a way to connect apartment owners with potential tenants.
Facebook groups are now solely dedicated for apartment owners wanting to post pictures of the rooms or bed spaces that they are offering for rent.
On the FB pages are found the lease conditions and details of the room or space for rent with most lessors opting to ask for a security deposit equivalent to a month’s rental on top of advance payments before a lessee can move in.
The security deposit ensures that the owner gets paid a month’s rental when a tenant is unable to pay his rent for a month.
Curfews and visitor restrictions are also part of several leasing considerations.
Curfew
Dormitory type boarding houses, such as Mendoza’s place, prohibit their tenants from staying out late.
“Before 10 p.m., we should be inside the dorm already because of our curfew, otherwise we will be locked outside until 5 A.M.,” Mendoza said.
This agreement sits well with Mendoza’s mother who, he says, worries less about him wandering the city streets as she is assured of her son’s whereabouts at night.
Visitor restrictions in dormitory type rentals also assure tenants that their possessions that are left inside their rooms remain safe and secure since no outsiders are allowed to get in.
While the room rental business is growing in Cebu City, Business Permit Verification officer Jane Abarquez, reminds lessors to register their businesses for the protection of everyone.
“If the boarding house has a permit, the owner can go after erring tenants who refuse to pay their rentals. The same way, the tenants are protected by a contract so they can’t be easily kicked out by the owners,” said Abarquez.
Safety measures
For those who just started to operate their boarding houses, Abarquez said that a joint inspection team will assess their compliance to safety standards before a permit is given.
The joint inspection team is composed of representatives from the City Treasurer’s Office, Mayor’s Office, the City’s zoning office, Office of the Building Engineer (OBO), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) and the City Health Office.
Abarquez said that they also do inspections on the boarding houses on different periods of the year to see that the building owners comply with all the safety standards set by City Hall.
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