SOCIALIZED HOUSING LAW AND SUBDIVISION AND CONDOMINIUM ACT

University of Batangas – Lipa

College of Engineering and Architecture
Architecture Department

Prepared for:
Ar. / EnP. Gerelson Ray R. Bernardino,
UAP, PIEP, MSCM, CIPM

Prepared by:

Pamela Anne Ghail Sarmiento

ARCH3A

March 8, 2024

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION 3
Background 3
Purpose 3
Scope 3
CHAPTER II
PART I – BP 220 SOCIALIZED HOUSING LAW 4
PART II – PD 957 SUBDIVISION AND CONDOMINIUM ACT 9
PART III - COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF BP 220 AND PD 957 13
CHAPTER III
Conclusion 16
Recommendation 16
References 17

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Firewalls 7

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Private Open Space Requirements 5
Table 2: Minimum Setbacks per Storey 8
Table 3: Comparative Analysis of BP 220 and PD 957 13

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 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

Background
Socialized housing and condos are two of the most important aspects of
architecture that directly affect a society's well-being and economic growth. The
Socialized Housing Law and Subdivision and Condominium Act of the Philippines are
important laws that have a direct impact on the planning and design of residential
communities in the country.

The Socialized Housing Law aims to provide affordable and accessible

housing for Filipinos, particularly those who are low-income and marginalized.
Similarly, the Subdivision and Condominium Act, on the other hand, regulates the
development of residential communities by requiring developers to obtain approval
from the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) before they can sell,
transfer, or develop a subdivision or condominium project.

As an aspiring architect, it's important to be knowledgeable about these laws

and regulations, as they will likely impact the types of projects that we work on and
the requirements we will need to meet. By understanding these laws and regulations,
we can ensure that we are designing and building projects that are safe, sustainable,
and compliant with local laws and regulations.

Purpose
The study was undertaken to perceive and understand BP 220 and PD 957 of
the Philippines. Specifically, it sought answers to the following questions:

1. What is the difference between the Socialized Housing Law and the
Subdivision and Condominium Act in the context of architecture?
2. What is the significance of considering the environmental impact of the built
environment in architectural design?
3. How can architects ensure that their projects comply with the standards set
by the Socialized Housing Law and the Subdivision and Condominium Act?

Scope
This research covers the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the BP 220
or the Socialized Housing Law and PD 957 or the Subdivision and Condominium Act.

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 CHAPTER II
PART I – BP 220 SOCIALIZED HOUSING LAW

1.1 SUBDIVISION
 22 square meters for economic housing and 18 square meters for
social housing
 Provision of firewall shall be mandatory for duplex and single-attached
units and at every unit for row
houses.
 The minimum setback of dwelling unit both for economic and
socialized housing project shall
be as follows:
a. Front Setback: 1.5 m.
b. Side yard: 1.5 m (from the building line)
c. Rear yard: 2.0 m.
d. Abutments: May be allowed per requirements of the National Building Code
of the Philippines

1.1 Building Design Standards and Guidelines

A. LOT PLANNING

 Access to property: shall be provided by means of an abutting public

street or path walk. Path walk shall only be allowed as pedestrian
access to property for Socialized Housing projects.
 Access to dwelling unit: Independent means of access to the
dwelling unit shall be provided without trespassing nearby properties.
 Open space requirement: Distributed throughout the lot so that it
provides ventilation and light o Sizes and Dimensions of Courts or
Yards- shall not be less than 2.0 meters. All inner courts shall be
connected to a street or yard, either by a passageway with a minimum
width of 1.20 meters or by a door through a room or rooms.
 Abutments: Abutments on the side and rear property lines may be
allowed if open space is

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 Table 1: Private Open Space Requirements
 Firewall shall have a minimum of one-hour fire resistive rating.

1.2 Building Design Standards (For Both Economic And Socialized

Housing)

a. Space standards: shall provide complete living facilities for one

family including provisions for living, sleeping, laundry, cooking,
eating, bathing and toilet facilities.

b. Ceiling heights: Minimum ceiling height for habitable rooms shall

be measured from the finished floor line to the ceiling line. Without
ceiling, provide 2.00m headroom clearance (in short, atleast 2m
building height from ffl-top pag wala ceiling) o Mezzanine floor ceiling:
Atleast 1.8 m above and below the mezzanine floor

c. Openings:

1. Doors

 A minimum of one entrance/exit shall be provided where the number

of occupants is not more than 10 and 2 entrances/exits where the
number of occupants is greater than 10.
 Doors shall have a minimum clear height of 2.0 meters. Except for
bathroom and mezzanine doors which shall have a minimum clear
height of 1.80 meters.
 Minimum clear widths of doors shall be as follows: Main Door: 0.80 m.
Service/Bedroom Doors: 0.70 m. Bathroom Door: 0.60 m.
2. Windows

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 total free area of openings equal to at least 10% of the floor area of
the room.
 Bathrooms shall be provided with window/s with an area not less than
1/20 of its floor area.
 Required windows may open into a roofed porch where the porch -
abuts court, yard, public street or alley, or open water course and
other public open spaces; - has a ceiling height of not less than 2.0
meters.
3. Interior Stairs
 Width: atleast 0.60m o Riser and Run: Stairs shall have a maximum
riser height of 0.25 meter and a minimum tread width of 0.20 meter. o
Headroom Clearance. Stairs shall have a minimum headroom
clearance of 2.0 meters. Such clearance shall be established by
measuring vertically from a place parallel and tangent to the stairway
tread moving to the soffit above all points.
 Landing: Every landing shall have a dimension measured in the
direction of travel equal to the width of the stairway. Maximum height
between landing shall be 3.60 meters.
 Handrails: Stairways shall have at least one handrail on one side
provided there is a guard or wall on the other side. Stairs with less
than 4 risers don’t need hand rails, and stairs with either a guard or
wall on one end doesn’t require railings on that end.
- Handrails shall be so designed as to permit continuous
sliding of hands on them. minimum clearance of 38 millimeters
from the wall to which they are fastened.
- The height of guards shall be measured vertically to the top
guard from the leading edge of the tread or from the floor of
landings. It shall not be less than 0.80 meter and no more than
1.20 meters. Masonry walls may be used for any portion of the
guard.
 Winding and Circular Stairways. Winding and circular stairways may
be used if the required width of run is provided at a point not more
than 300 millimeters from the side of the stairway where the treads are
narrower but in no case shall any width of run be less than 150
milimeters at any point. The maximum variation in the height of risers
and the width of treads in any one flight shall be 5 milimeters.

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 4. Roofing- Any roofing material that doesn’t let water

5. Electrical Requirements- at least one light outlet and one

convenience outlet per activity area.

6. Firewall- The firewall shall be of masonry construction, at least

150 millimeters or 6 inches thick and extend vertically from the
lowest portion of the wall adjoining the living units up to a minimum
height of 0.30 meter above the highest point of the roof attached to
it.

 A firewall shall be provided for duplex/single-attached units and at

every unit for row houses.
 Ceilings should be compartmentalized/separated for every unit

Figure 2: Firewalls

1.3 Multi-Family Dwellings and Condominiums (Economic And

Socialized Housing)

A. Lot Planning

 Access to the property. Direct vehicular access to the property shall

be provided by means of an abutting improved public street.
 Access to the dwelling. An independent means of access shall be
provided to each dwelling, or group of dwellings in a single plot,

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 without trespassing adjoining properties. Each dwelling must be
capable of maintenance without trespassing adjoining units.
 Utilities and service: facilities must be independent for each dwelling
unit. Each dwelling unit shall be provided with a sanitary means for the
removal of garbage and trash.
 Access to living units. An independent means of access to each living
units shall be provided without passing through any yard of a living
unit or any other yard. Open space Requirements
 Setbacks from the property line shall be maintained, the minimum of
which shall be the following:

Table 2: Minimum Setbacks per Storey

 In general, the minimum distance between 2 buildings in which the
taller buildings does not exceed 2 storeys shall be 4.0 meters. And the
minimum horizontal clearance between the two roof eaves shall be
1.50 meters.
B. Parking Space Requirements
 parking requirement shall be one (1) parking slot per eight (8) living
units. The size of an average automobile (car) parking slot must be
computed at 2.5 meters by 5.0 meters for perpendicular or diagonal
parking and at 2.15 meters by 6.0 meters for parallel parking.

1.4 Summary of Building Design Standards

In general, all building design standards for the single-family dwelling shall
apply to all living units of multi-family dwellings, except that, the minimum
floor area of a living unit in multi-family dwellings shall be 22 square meters
for economic housing and 18 square meters for socialized housing. For BP
220 condominium projects, the minimum floor area shall be 18 square
meters.

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 PART II – PD 957 SUBDIVISION AND CONDOMINIUM ACT

This law is also known as the subdivision and condominium buyers’ protective
decree on “the regulation of sale of subdivisions lots and condominiums including
their non-saleable areas which are parks and playgrounds, community facilities and
circulation system. This policy aims to closely supervise and regulate real estate
practitioners, owners, developers and all key players in the real estate industry in the
Philippines. The primary objective of this is to protect buyers and prioritize their
welfare from all kinds of real estate mishandling, and fraudulent transactions that
leads to mistrust of buyers in the real estate practitioners.

This law empowers the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) to
have “exclusive jurisdiction to regulate real estate trade and business” and implement
it in a way that the industry would regain the trust of the buyers from the point of sale
to the turnover of the real estate unit. This law promotes healthy competition among
real estate practitioners and is devised for the prevention of blunders in a real estate
transaction.

Residential subdivision projects shall take into account and conform with the
minimum design standards, applicable local government units’ (LGU) zoning
ordinances as well as pertinent provision of the National Building Code. This law was
established to promote peace and order and the enhancement of economic, social
and moral condition of the Filipino people by closely supervising and regulating the
real estate transactions in both subdivision and condominium projects and impose
the necessary penalties on fraudulent practices and unjust manipulations committed
in connection to these illicit activities. This further establishes procedures for the
registration and requirements to obtain the license to sell. These requirements are
made to ensure that the sale of the subdivision lots or condominium units to the
public would not be fraudulent. Revocation of Registration Certificates or License to
Sell and set penalties for violation of this law.

2.1 What is a Subdivision?

Under the Presidential Decree no. 957, Subdivision project is defined

as a tract or a parcel of land registered under Act No. 496 which is partitioned

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primarily for residential purposes into individual lots with or without
improvements thereon, and offered to the public for sale, in cash or in
installment terms. It shall include all residential, commercial, industrial and
recreational areas, as well as open spaces and other community and public
areas in the project

Subdivision Lot is defined as any of the lots, whether residential,

commercial, industrial, or recreational, in a subdivision project. Article No. 496
- The Land Registration Act

2.2 What is a Condominium?

Under the Presidential Decree no. 957, Condominium Project is

defined as the entire parcel of real property divided or to be divided primarily
for residential purposes into condominium units, including all structures
thereon.

Condominium Unit is defined as a part of the condominium project

intended for any type of independent use or ownership, including one or more
rooms or spaces located in one or more floors (or part of parts of floors) in a
building or buildings and such accessories as may be appended thereto.

2.3 Registration of Projects

The registered owner of a parcel of land who wishes to convert the

same into a subdivision project shall submit his subdivision plan to the
HOUSING AND LAND-USE REGULATORY BOARD, who will approve the
project upon a finding that the plan complies with the Subdivision Standards'
and Regulations. The same procedure shall be followed in the case of a plan
for a condominium project except that, in addition, said Authority shall act
upon and approve the plan with respect to the building or buildings included in
the condominium project in accordance with the National Building Code.

The subdivision plan, as so approved, shall then be submitted to the

Director of Lands for approval in accordance with the procedure prescribed in
Section 44 of the Land Registration Act (Act No. 496, as amended by R.A.
No. 440): Provided that in case of complex subdivision plans, court approval
shall no longer be required. "Complex subdivision plan" shall mean a
subdivision plan of a registered land wherein a street, passageway or open
space is outlined/presented on the plan. The condominium plan as likewise
so approved, shall be submitted to the Register of Deeds of the province or

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city in which the property lies and the same shall be acted upon subject to the
conditions and in accordance with the procedure prescribed in Section 4 of
the Condominium Act (R.A. No. 4726).

2.4 License to Sell

HOUSING AND LAND-USE REGULATORY BOARD shall issue to the

owner or dealer of a registered project a license to sell the project if, after an
examination of the registration statement filed by said owner or dealer, he is
convinced that the owner or dealer is of good repute, that his business is
financially stable, and that the proposed sale of the subdivision lots or
condominium units to the public would not be fraudulent.

An owner or dealer to be authorized to sell shall obtain a license to

sell the project within two weeks from the registration of such project.

2.5 Performance Bond

In issuing the License to sell, the HOUSING AND LAND-USE
REGULATORY BOARD must ensure that the owner/dealer shall have filed an
adequate performance bond to guarantee the construction and maintenance
of the roads, gutters, drainage, sewerage, water system, lighting systems,
and full development of the subdivision project or the condominium project.

Performance bond is a bond issued by a bank or other financial

institution, guaranteeing the fulfillment of a particular contract.

2.6 Suspension of License to Sell

The HOUSING AND LAND-USE REGULATORY BOARD may

suspend the license to sell if, in its opinion, any information in the registration
statement filed by the owner or dealer is or has become misleading, incorrect,
inadequate or incomplete or the sale or offering for a sale of the subdivision
or condominium project may work or tend to work a fraud upon prospective
buyers.

Although, the suspension order may be lifted if, after notice and
hearing, the HOUSING AND LAND-USE REGULATORY BOARD is
convinced that the registration statement is accurate or that any deficiency
therein has been corrected or supplemented or that the sale to the public of
the subdivision or condominium project will neither be fraudulent not result in

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fraud. It shall also be lifted upon dismissal of the complaint for lack of legal
basis.

2.7 Exempt Transactions

A license to sell and performance bond shall not be required in any of

the following transactions:

a) Sale of a subdivision lot resulting from the partition of land among

co-owners and co-heirs.

b) Sale or transfer of a subdivision lot by the original purchaser thereof

and any subsequent sale of the same lot.

c) Sale of a subdivision lot or a condominium unit by or for the account

of a mortgagee in the ordinary course of business when necessary to
liquidate a bona fide debt. Grounds or Revocation of Registration Certificate
and License to Sell of Owners or Dealers

1. Is insolvent; or

2. Has violated any of the provisions of this Decree or any

applicable rule or regulation of the Authority, or any
undertaking of his/its performance bond; or

3. Has been or is engaged or is about to engage in fraudulent

transactions; or

4. Has made any misrepresentation in any prospectus,

brochure, circular or other literature about the subdivision
project or condominium project that has been distributed to
prospective buyers; or

5. Is of bad business repute; or

6. Does not conduct his business in accordance with law or

sound business principles.

2.8 Non-forfeiture of Payments

If the owner or developer failed to develop the subdivision or

condominium project according to the plan within the time limit, no installment
payment made by the buyer shall be forfeited. Such buyer may, at his option,

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be reimbursed the total amount paid including amortization interests but
excluding delinquency interests, with interest thereon at the legal rate.

2.9 Failure to Pay Installments

In the event that the buyer failed to pay the installments due for
reasons other than the failure of the owner or developer to develop the
project, the rights of the buyer shall be governed by Republic Act No. 6552.

PART III – COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF BP 220 AND PD 957

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 CHAPTER III

CONCLUSION

The Socialized Housing Law (Republic Act No. 9527) and the Subdivision and
Condominium Act (Republic Act No. 7699) are both important laws in the Philippines
that have a significant impact on the development of housing units and the design
and planning of residential and commercial projects. While both laws aim to provide
safe and secure housing for the Filipino people, they differ in terms of their focus and
scope.

The Socialized Housing Law primarily addresses the housing needs of low-
income households and provides for the construction of socialized housing projects.
The law sets the standards for the design, construction, and management of these
projects, in addition to providing incentives to developers. The law also aims to
create a system that encourages private sector participation in the provision of
affordable housing.

On the other hand, the Subdivision and Condominium Act regulates the
development of subdivisions and condominiums throughout the Philippines, and it
sets the standards for planning, design, and construction. The act defines the criteria
for subdivision development, including design standards, as well as the procedure for
the approval and transfer of land titles. It also outlines the rights and responsibilities
of the landowners, developers, and residents, and establishes a system for the
registration and management of condominium projects.

RECOMMENDATION

Considering the environmental impact of the built environment is essential in

architectural design as it has a significant impact on the well-being of humans and
other living organisms. The built environment can affect the environment in various
ways, such as the use of natural resources, emission of pollutants, and impact on the
ecosystem. By considering the environmental impact of the built environment in
architectural design, architects can create buildings and spaces that are sustainable,
efficient, and healthy for human use.

Architects can ensure that their projects comply with the standards set by the
Socialized Housing Law and the Subdivision and Condominium Act by studying the

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laws and regulations thoroughly. They should also consult with relevant government
agencies and regulators to understand the requirements and procedures for
compliance. In addition, architects need to design buildings and spaces that meet the
standards set by the laws and regulations in terms of size, height, orientation,
ventilation, and accessibility. They should also consider the social and economic
impact of their designs on the surrounding community and take steps to minimize any
adverse impacts.

References

Abril, Y. (2022), SUBDIVISION AND CONDOMINIUM BUYERS

PROTECTIVE DECREE, https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/san-beda-
university/bs-accountancy/pd-no-957-written-report/7423763

Course Hero (2021), COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PD 957 AND BP 220,

https://www.coursehero.com/file/70539983/COMPARATIVE-ANALYSIS-OF-
PD-957-and-bp-220docx/?userType=student

Columban College (2021), Summary of BP 220 Housing design standards,

https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/columban-college/architecture/bp-
220-outline-summary-of-bp-220-housing-design-standards/67472571

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