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Sales; sale of real property on installment; grace period. Section 3(a) of R.A. 6552 provides that the total grace period corresponds to one month for every one year of installment payments made, provided that the buyer may exercise this right only once in every five years of the life of the contract and its extensions. The buyer’s failure to pay the installments due at the expiration of the grace period allows the seller to cancel the contract after 30 days from the buyer’s receipt of the notice of cancellation or demand for rescission of the contract by a notarial act.
Sale of real property on installment; cash surrender value; when the buyer is entitled thereto. Republic Act No. 6552, also known as the Maceda Law, or the Realty Installment Buyer Protection Act, has the declared public policy of “protecting buyers of real estate on installment payments against onerous and oppressive conditions.”
Section 3 of R.A. 6552 provides for the rights of a buyer who has paid at least two years of installments but defaults in the payment of succeeding installments. Section 3 provides that in all transactions or contracts involving the sale or financing of real estate on installment payments, including residential condominium apartments but excluding industrial lots, commercial buildings and sales to tenants under R.A. No. 3844, as amended by R.A. No. 6389, where the buyer has paid at least two years of installments, the buyer is entitled to the following rights in case he defaults in the payment of succeeding installments:
(a) To pay, without additional interest, the unpaid installments due within the total grace period earned by him which is hereby fixed at the rate of one month grace period for every one year of installment payments made: Provided, That this right shall be exercised by the buyer only once in every five years of the life of the contract and its extensions, if any.
(b) If the contract is cancelled, the seller shall refund to the buyer the cash surrender value of the payments on the property equivalent to fifty per cent of the total payments made, and, after five years of installments, an additional five per cent every year but not to exceed ninety per cent of the total payments made: Provided, That the actual cancellation of the contract shall take place after thirty days from receipt by the buyer of the notice of cancellation or the demand for rescission of the contract by a notarial act and upon full payment of the cash surrender value to the buyer.
Down payments, deposits or options on the contract shall be included in the computation of the total number of installment payments made.
- Gatchalian Realty, Inc. v. Evelyn Angeles, G.R. No. 202358, November 27, 2013.
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