Can I still get a refund from a property I stopped paying for a year or two?

Refund, people had been asking me about refund. One of the reasons I received a lot is that “they can no longer afford to pay for the house/property anymore”. Well, in real estate, refund is possible on certain conditions and situations, and not paying loans is not part of it, unfortunately.

We are receiving a lot of this issues like this today, because people are buying properties that are actually beyond their capacity to pay. Some people acquire properties because at that very moment they are receiving a lot, but they don’t have adequate extra or standby funds to pay for it, should problem arise.It’s more of a financial education disconnect when we talk about investments.

A letter sender sent me this question a few months ago, because of the situation, he is in. He used to be an OFW working in a company that eventually closed to business. His retrenchment caused a big cut on his financial capacity to pay for the existing house that they are living for 10 years. Because he couldn’t get a job with the same income for a year now, he can no longer afford to continue paying for the house, so he stopped paying for it for almost two years now. With these facts he shared in his letter, I would assume that his property was already foreclosed. He did not loan it from the bank nor from Pag-ibig Housing Loan. He loans it directly from the property developer instead. And his question was, can he still request for a refund from all the payments he made in the past years?

From the situation mentioned above, can he still request for a refund using Maceda Law?

NO.

He was paying for his monthly installments to the developer, does he qualify for refund? He is paying for more than 10 years now ?

The answer is NO. He is indeed paying for more than 24 months but his situation is no longer applicable for Maceda Law refund. Why? Because;

1. Maceda Law states that refunds may be available for installments paid at least 24 months with no default payments made. Which means the account should be active and current. No missed payments.
2. In-house financing is no longer covered by Maceda Law. In-house financing in the Philippines is like that of Bank and Pagibig Financing, however, your financing company is also the company that develops the property instead. You agreed in a contract that the company will lend you the money to pay for your chosen property and you will pay them monthly with corresponding interest until you finished paying off your loan. Treat it as a 3rd party company that is still owned by the developer that granted you the loan to pay for the property you purchased.
3. Choosing to not pay for your loan for a year or two, is a sign of negligence on your part as a borrower. Although according to the 1987 Philippine Constitution, our Bill of Rights explicitly says that “no person shall be imprisoned for debt or non–payment of a poll tax.” The lender or the company that allowed you to borrow money has the right over your property and they can take away your home from you.