NOV 28, 2015

NR # 4032B

House panel approves resolution urging HUDCC

to extend rental regulation for two more years
The House Committee on Housing and Urban Development has reported out for
plenary adoption a resolution urging the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating
Council (HUDCC) to extend rental regulation for two more years.
House Resolution 2513, which substituted House Resolution 2359 authored by Rep.
Winston Castelo (2nd District, Quezon City), pushes for the implementation of the
recommendations contained in a HUDCC study submitted to Congress extending rental
regulation and adjusting the coverage and rates of increases on rent pursuant to its
mandate under Republic Act 9653, otherwise known as the Rent Control Act of 2009.
The HUDCC submitted the study prepared by the Philippine Statistical Research
and Training Institute (PSRTI) in a meeting conducted by the House Committee on
Housing and Urban Development chaired by Rep. Alfredo B. Benitez (3 rd District, Negros
Occidental) on August 26, 2015.
Castelo said on the basis of the PSRTI study, the HUDCC recommends the
extension of rental regulation after December 31, 2015 for two years, beginning January 1,
2016 to December 31, 2017.
Further, the rental regulation for the period, shall use the inflation rate for 2014 of
4.1% as the basis for adjustment of the coverage and rates of increases on rent, Castelo
said.
The rent for any residential unit, occupied by the same lessee, shall not be
increased by more than 4% for those with a monthly rental of Ph1 to P3,999 and not more
than 7% for those with a monthly rental of P4,000 to P10,000, he added.
The PSRTI report reveals that based on the Family Income and Expenditure Survey
conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) for the year 2012: 1.54 million families
or 7.2 percent of the 21.48 million households in the country were home renters.
About 1,274,788 families or 82.5 percent of the 1.54 million renting families paid a
monthly rent of less than P4,000; and of those renting less than P4,000 per month,
124,742 families or 8 percent of the total renters belonged to families earning an average
monthly income of not more than P5,252.
Based on the preliminary results of the study conducted by the PSSTI, formerly the
Statistical Research and Training Center, an attached agency of the National Economic
Development Authority (NEDA), HUDCC Resolution No 2, s. 2013, extending rental

regulation until December 31, 2015 on status quo rates was adopted on December 16,
2013.
RA 9653 granted the HUDCC the authority to continue rental regulation after
December 31, 2013, and shall determine the period of regulation and subsequent
extension, if warranted, to determine the residential units covered, and to adjust the
allowable limit on rental increases per annum.
RA 9653 mandated the HUDCC to conduct, every three years from its enactment, a
review of its implementation and a study on rental regulation, and to submit to Congress
HUDCCs recommendation on the necessity and feasibility either of a continuing
regulation or deregulation, Castelo said.
In case of deregulation, the HUDCC and its attached agencies shall formulate and
implement a two-year transition program that will provide safeguards that will cushion the
impact of a regulation-free rental housing market, he added.
Castelo said the Rent Control Act of 2009 declared a moratorium on any rental
increase from the time of its enactment through December 31, 2009, limited to not more
than seven percent (7%) the allowable rental increase from January 1, 2010 to December
31, 2013 for all residential units in the National Capital Region and other highly urbanized
areas rented out for amounts ranging from Php1 to Php10,000 and residential units in all
other areas rented out for amounts ranging from Php1 to Php5,000. (30) jc