CEBU CITY — The Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) 7 (Central Visayas) has advised the public to make sure that a residential project has a license to sell, before buying a condominium unit or a subdivision house and lot.
The HLURB-7 issued the advisory on Tuesday after housing developers have invaded the social media, advertising their projects and pre-selling some of their units.
HLURB-7 Director Francis Ordeniza, during the Association of Government Information Officers-Philippine Information Agency 7 (AGIO-PIA) forum, said the public must be warned as some of the projects advertised on Facebook have no license to sell yet.
Ordeniza said HLURB-7 has received 31 license applications from subdivision developers since January, but has approved only 16, as of September 21. For condominium projects, HLURB-7 has likewise approved 23 applications out of 32.
He said some of the applications are pending due to lack of vital requirements, such as building permits from local government units.
“We are strongly advising those interested to invest (in) a condo or buy a house and lot in a subdivision to ask the developers if they have a license to sell,” Ordeniza said in Cebuano. “Better yet, prospective buyers should contact the HLURB and verify if a certain project has a license to sell.”
Ordeniza said developers are prohibited from advertising a certain project without an advertisement approval from the HLURB.
Engineer Mark Lindugan, HLURB-7 Real Estate Unit head, clarified that it is not an assurance that a project is being developed by a big and trusted real estate company.
The HLURB issues a license to sell for every project and not to the developer, he said.
“A developer must have a license to sell for each of its projects,” Lindugan said. “(Just) because a project is developed by a big real estate company, it doesn’t automatically mean that it has a license to sell.”
HLURB-7 Monitoring and Adjudication Chief Joe Vinson Empaces said developers caught selling without a license will be imposed a fine of PHP10,000.
Empaces said most of those advertising and selling on social media are eager-beaver agents and brokers, and the public must be advised to verify if a project already has a license before they invest. (Luel Galarpe/PNA)
