BIZ BUZZ: Condo dues conundrum

Should the developer of a residential condominium be exempt from the payment of association dues for unsold units?

A unit owner of a Makati condo has called out a property developer to “pay its fair share” of the association dues. The complainant estimated that collectable association dues were about P26 million. He also claimed that the condo association was losing about P2 million per month.

The unit owner argued that the developer itself was a member of the association and should contribute (commensurate to the number of unsold units) to the pool of money needed to operate and maintain the common areas and facilities, as well as to sustain the expenses for the delivery of common utilities and services.

“The developer already made money selling us the condo units, yet they do not want to pay their fair share to maintain. It is so unfair,” the unit owner lamented.

Through its legal counsels, the property developer countered that it was exempt from paying dues, citing the Condominium Act, which states in the Declaration of Restrictions that every condominium unit “shall be assessed for authorized expenditures of the condominium’s management body separately for its share of such expenses in proportion to its power’s fractional interest in any common areas.”

“Clearly, the law itself states that condominium unit owners may or may not be required to share in the said expenses if the Declaration of Restrictions so provides,” the counsels said.

In this case, the lawyers cited an amendment to the condo’s Master Deed with Declaration of Restrictions in 2018, which provided that the developer will be exempt from payment of dues. But in lieu of such dues, the developer is instead required to remit to the association an amount as may be necessary to meet any shortfall in monthly operating expenses. The developer assured that it “has always been ready and willing” to shell out funds, if needed.

The complainant, on the other hand, questioned the validity of the master deed amendment, demanding proof that owners had been notified prior to the tweaking of the covenant. He likewise sought proof on whether such amendment had been cleared by housing regulators as required by law.

The developer argued, on the other hand, that there was no violation of the Magna Carta for Homeowners’ Associations, “simply because the latter does not cover condominium corporations as held in several decisions of the Supreme Court and opinions of the Securities and Exchange Commission.”

In any event, even if the Magna Carta does apply by analogy, the counsel said it must still be read together with the Condominium Act, “which precisely allows the condominium unit owners to be exempt from, or to share differently”—like in the case of this particular building—in the maintenance expenses of condominium projects.

—Doris Dumlao-Abadilla

Rogue banker and . . . rogue client?

So last week, we told you about a rogue banker who fled to Japan after allegedly scamming clients of a large bank and making off with as much as P100 million in “placements”—placements that were apparently entrusted to her by the clients, but went straight to her personal account instead of going to a bank-approved investment.

Well, Biz Buzz learned that the bank in question has been doing a lot of sleuthing of its own ever since this case came to light recently, and the findings of its crack team of investigators are proving to be a real eye opener.

For one, they looked into the background of one complainant—a person allegedly scammed of her hard-earned money—and found a lot of question marks as to how she had that kind of money in her possession to invest.

The probers think her personal background and circumstances simply do not support her contention that she had tens of millions of pesos to invest.

While other victims really did lose their money to the scam, the investigators are now wondering if this one complainant is being completely forthright about the supposed missing investments. Was she a conduit for someone else? Was she complicit in the scam? That’s what they trying to find out.

Abangan!

—Daxim L. Lucas

Race for crypto access

The mobile wallet sector is racing to provide easier access to crypto assets given their surging popularity.

PayMaya is trying to edge out rivals by bringing in one of the biggest partners of all, crypto-trading giant Coinbase, which is listed on the Nasdaq exchange in the United States.

Through the partnership, the PLDT-backed integrated mobile wallet allows Filipinos to buy Bitcoin and Ether (the native cryptocurrency of Ethereum) and, eventually, a host of other popular tokens.

The cost of entry, according to PayMaya, starts at P1.

The move was part of PayMaya’s goal to extend services beyond money transfers. The group is also poised to launch its digital bank, Maya Bank, thus covering the full range of services from traditional finance to those being developed under the Web3 framework.

Whether this bet pays off remains to be seen. But the growth in crypto assets, especially in the Philippines, is more easily quantifiable.

The Statista Global Consumer Survey from 2019 to 2021 shows the Philippines ranking 3rd out of 56 countries in terms of people who have owned or used a digital coin.

PayMaya president Shailesh Baidwan said the trend was being driven by younger users. Its venture into crypto investing was thus a bet on the future.

—Miguel R. Camus INQ

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