Senate set to transmit rent control law report to GMA

The Senate is ready to transmit the conference committee report on the extension of the Rent Control Law to President Arroyo for signing after the All Saints’ Day break next week, Senate President Franklin Drilon said yesterday.

Drilon said the ratification of the conference committee report would hasten the enactment of the bill. Once signed by the President, the law will take effect for three years or until December 2008.

According to Drilon, the extension of the Rent Control Law would provide relief to Filipino families in the face of soaring prices of oil, electricity and basic commodities. The bill will also benefit some one million students and countless workers living in boarding houses or renting bed spaces in Metro Manila and in other parts of the country.

Under the proposed law, apartment owners in urban centers leasing their units for P 10,000 or less per month could not increase the rent by more than 10 percent. The ceiling price for similar units in non-urban center is P5,000. The bill also provides that landlords can only ask for a maximum of one-month advance payment and two months’ deposit.

The Senate bill retained the old law’s one percent cap on rent increases but widened the coverage to houses or apartments being rented for P10,000 a month in Metro Manila and other cities, and P5,000 a month in non-urban areas. This means that rentals on such residential units may be increased only once a year and by not more than 10 percent.

The law provides that the rent shall be paid in advance within the first five days of the lease agreement, unless the contract provides for a later date.

The owner of the unit, or the lessor, cannot demand more than a one-month advance rent. The bill imposes a fine ranging from P5,000 to P15,000 or imprisonment of one month to six months, or both for violations.

During its regular session Tuesday night, the Senate ratified the bicameral conference report submitted by Sen. Rodolfo Biazon and Eduardo Zialcita, heads of the Senate and House panels, respectively.

The report included an explanation of the conference committee on the disagreeing provisions of Senate Bill no. 1956 and House Bill no 3356. — Christina Mendez