The Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB-7) advised the public to be vigilant in buying residential and commercial building units that are advertised.
Buyers should closely examine advertising claims and offers of real estate brokers, in case the claims are false or the broker has no license to sell, said Alexis Roy Lopez, HLURB-7 regional director, during the AGIO forum yesterday.
Yesterday was the deadline for the filing of the application of property building owners, developers and brokers to register and secure a license to sell issued by the HLURB. This is provided under Presidential Decree 957 or the law regulating the sale of subdivision lots and condominiums.
Starting Feb. 14, 2015, the HLURB introduced new guidelines in selling building properties to prevent false advertising.
There will be no further extension for the deadline, after a previous 60-day extension was earlier given, said HLURB lawyer Joe Vinson Empaces.
Francis Ordeniza, an engineer and head of the planning, registration and licensing of HLURB, said five elements should be present in a building property advertisement: (1) name of the owner and developer of the project; (2) exact location of the project; (3) license to sell, (4) advertisement approval; and (5) the approved data of when the building will be completed.
Lopez said that if these elements are not found in the advertisement, a buyer can report the violation to the HLURB office by calling 254-4564, or visiting their office at Unit 608 of Club Ultima in Cebu City.
Task Force
A five-man HLURB task force will start monitoring real estate advertisements starting today.
They will check social media sites as well.
Lopez said a penalty of P10,000 per unit will be imposed for the first offense.
Fines will increase for the succeeding violations.
If a broker won’t comply with the new rules, the broker’s license can be revoked and he or she could end up blacklisted by the government agency.
“Ang penalty siguro dali nila ma-settle kay kwarta man lang pero ang kaapan ang ilang records sa opisina kay the moment ma-penalize ka, mogawas ka sa records sa office namo, makita man na didto so maapektohan ang ilang track record.
(It may be easy to settle the penalty since it just involves paying a fine but the violation itself will appear in HLURB records and this would affect one’s track record),” he said.