Ayala Alabang Village execs eye tougher action vs lease violators

To stop the proliferation of illegal activities of some people renting homes at the posh Ayala Alabang Village, its homeowners’ association has proposed that the barangay (village) council enact an ordinance that would penalize lessees violating a property’s deed of restriction.

Village manager Ramon Fernandez said the Ayala Alabang Village Association sought the help of the barangay to sanction property owners whose lessees violate the terms contained in certificates of titles as a way to curb illegal activities.

“Some of these illegal activities are conducted near schools,” he said over the phone.

For instance, one house, which has been registered as having only four tenants, is full of people come lunch and dinner time.

Village authorities later learned the house was being used as a restaurant, Fernandez said.

Asked to present business and health permits from city hall, the renters could not produce one, he added.

The village association immediately informed the city’s business permits office, which subsequently issued a cease-and-desist order against the renters.

Fernandez pointed out that all certificates of titles of property inside the rich enclave contained very specific deeds of restriction “to maintain a standard within the village.”

For one, each house must be used by a single family only. Some foreigners who rent property there usually do not follow this policy, he added.

Some register as one family, only to allow relatives, associates or friends to use it, turning it into a virtual dormitory, according to Fernandez.

To avoid being detected, some lessees build walls over four meters high, another violation in the deed of restriction, he said.

He lamented that the village association could only impose sanctions he described as mere “slaps on the wrist.”

“What the association wanted was the strict enforcement of the deeds of restriction to maintain order within the village,” Fernandez said.