Homeowners vs Sta. Lucia

The Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) has ordered Sta. Lucia Realty, property developer of a Consolacion town subdivision, to complete the subdivision’s fences, its drainage system and fix its cracked pavements.

The housing board also ordered Sta. Lucia Realty to pay the Royale Cebu Estates Homeowners Association Inc. P95,000 for damages and attorneys fees.

In his May 23, 2011 ruling, Lyndon Juntilla, housing board arbiter, found that Sta. Lucia Realty failed to fulfill its obligations to the subdivision’s homeowners.

Juntilla said in its decision that Sta. Lucia should finish the construction of fences, create drainage fences, make repairs on cracked pavements, among others.

Sta. Lucia was also mandated to pay P40,000 in moral damages, P30,000 as exemplary damages, and P25,000 as attorney’s fees and litigation expenses.

Tetta Baad, Royale Cebu Estate Homeowners’ Association’s vice president, said the case would serve as a lesson for those who were in the same situation as they were.

Baad said Sta. Lucia would have 15 days to file an appeal with the board of commissioners in the HLURB head office.

Last December 2010, the subdivision’s homeowners’ association assigned 10 security guards from Asidac, a security agency owned by one of the residents, after several cases of thefts and encroachment in the private subdivision worried the homeowners.

The homeowners complained to the HLURB last year that Sta. Lucia didn’t provide them a complete perimeter fence, street lighting, a functioning clubhouse with Jacuzzi as promised by the developer. Reporter Ador Vincent S. Mayol