QuestionsQuestions (Republic Act No. 4726)
A condominium is an interest in real property consisting of (1) a separate interest in a unit in a residential, industrial, or commercial building, and (2) an undivided interest in the common areas and the land where it is located, plus other common areas of the building (and possibly other portions of the real property).
It may be ownership or any other interest in real property recognized by law, on property covered by the Civil Code and other pertinent laws.
A unit is a part of the condominium project intended for independent use or ownership, including one or more rooms or spaces in one or more floors (or part of floors), together with its accessories as may be appended.
Common areas are the entire project excepting all units separately granted, held, or reserved.
Only if an enabling or master deed is recorded in the Register of Deeds of the province or city where the property lies and duly annotated on the land’s certificate of title (if the land is patented or registered under the Land Registration or Cadastral Acts).
It must include: description of land; description of buildings and number of units; description of common areas/facilities; exact nature of interests acquired by purchasers; statement on purpose/restrictions on use; consent of registered owner and registered holders of liens/encumbrances (certificate); appended survey plan and diagrammatic floor plan; and reasonable restrictions not contrary to law, morals, or public policy.
Yes. It may be amended or revoked upon registration of an instrument executed by the registered owner(s) and consented to by all registered holders of any lien or encumbrance. Until registration of revocation, the Act continues to apply.
Any transfer of a unit must include the transfer of the undivided interest in the common areas (and, where proper, the membership or shares in the condominium corporation).
Where common areas are owned by owners of separate units as co-owners, no condominium unit may be conveyed to non-Filipinos or non-qualifying corporations, except in hereditary succession. Where common areas are held by a corporation, transfer of a unit is invalid if the transfer of appurtenant membership/stock would cause alien ownership in the corporation to exceed legal limits.
The boundaries are the interior surfaces of the perimeter walls, floors, ceilings, windows, and doors.
Not part of the unit are: unit bearing walls, columns, floors, roofs, foundations, and other common structural elements, as well as lobbies, stairways, hallways, and other common-use areas; elevator equipment and shafts; central heating/refrigeration/air-conditioning equipment; reservoirs, tanks, pumps, central services and facilities; and utility installations (except outlets within the unit).
A unit comes with an exclusive easement over the air space encompassed by the unit boundaries as they exist at the time and as it may be lawfully altered; it terminates when the air space is destroyed/untenantable due to unit destruction. Each unit also has a non-exclusive easement for ingress, egress, and support through the common areas.
Common areas must remain undivided and there is no judicial partition thereof, except where RA 4726 allows partition by sale of the entire project under Section 8.
In several situations, such as: failure to substantially rebuild after material damage after 3 years; or when damage makes at least one-half of units untenantable and owners with over 30% of common area interests oppose repair; or when project is over 50 years old and obsolete uneconomic and owners with over 50% oppose repair/restoration/remodeling; or upon condemnation/expropriation with viability issues and owners with over 70% oppose continuation of the condominium regime; or when conditions in the registered declaration of restrictions are met.
It is a registered declaration relating to management and governance of the project. It constitutes a lien upon each condominium in the project and binds all condominium owners.
The condominium corporation constitutes the management body of the project, with limited corporate purposes: holding common areas, managing the project, and other necessary/incidental purposes consistent with RA 4726 and the enabling/master deed and declaration of restrictions.
It cannot be voluntarily dissolved via an action for dissolution under Rule 104 except upon specific showings similar to those for partition by sale, including: failure to rebuild after certain types of damage, obsolescence after 50 years with requisite opposition thresholds, condemnation/expropriation with requisite opposition thresholds, or satisfaction of conditions in the declaration of restrictions.