Building Permit Needed. A Dear P.a.o. Article

[Call me bubba]

here is a recent DEAR PAO article regarding building permits, for those who may be considering to build their house someday

 

 

 

 

Dear PAO,
I am about to build a house in our province which is being opposed by our neighbor. We have conflicts in the past and now my neighbor is threatening to sue me for violation of the Building Code for lack of a building permit.
Please enlighten me with this law.

Alex

Dear Alex,

It is required under Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1096 as amended otherwise known as the National Building Code of the Philippines, that all persons,

firms, corporations, including any agency or instrumentality of the government who shall erect,

 

construct, alter, repair, move, convert or demolish any building or structure or cause the same to be done shall secure first a building permit from the Building Official assigned in the place where the subject building is located or building work is to be done (Section 301, P.D. 1096, as amended).

In order to obtain a building permit, the applicant shall file an application therefor in writing and on the prescribed form from the office of the Building Official.

The application shall provide, at least the following information:

 

(1) A description of the work to be covered by the permit applied for;

 

(2) Certified true copy of the TCT covering the lot on which the proposed work is to be done. If the applicant is not the registered owner, in addition to the TCT, a copy of the contract of lease shall be submitted;

 

(3) The use or occupancy for which the proposed work is intended;

 

(4) Estimated cost of the proposed work. It is further required under the National Building Code that the application should be accompanied by corresponding plans and specifications prepared, signed and sealed by the duly mechanical engineer,

in case of mechanical plans, and by a registered electrical engineer in case of electrical plans, except in those cases exempted or not required by the Building Official under the Code (Section 302, P.D. 1096, as amended).

It is likewise stated under the Code that any person, firm or corporation who shall violate the provisions thereof such failure to secure a building permit before a building is actually erected may be administratively and/or criminally liable. Under the administrative liability, the offender may be fined an amount not exceeding ten thousand pesos (Section 212, PD 1096).

 

As to criminal liability, it is stated under the Code that any person, firm or corporation who shall violate any of its provisions and/or commit any act hereby declared to be unlawful shall upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than twenty thousand pesos or by imprisonment of not more than two years or by both such fine and imprisonment:

 

Provided, that in the case of a corporation firm, partnership or association, the penalty shall be imposed upon its officials responsible for such violation and in case the guilty party is an alien, he shall immediately be deported after payment of the fine and/or service of his sentence (Section 213, PD 1096).

 

 

http://www.manilatimes.net/building-permit-needed-to-construct-a-house/194745/

 

 

 

 

[chris49]

What is a PAO?

 

In the province in general getting a building permit from any City Hall is a routine matter. As it happens here our local electrical company ISECO, here in the Ilocos Region does require a builiding permit and a certain standard of wiring, before they will come out to install the electric meter and give you the hook up. Cost such a permit is around 1000 pesos.  You can get such a permit at any time even after the building is constructed.

 

 

A "friend", but not actually a friend of mine scored a deal on a nice piece of coastal land, but ultimately got denied a permit because the land was too close to the beach and they cited an ordinance about coastal erosion. They would allow only temporary structures like NIpa and bamboo huts, but he could not erect a permanent building. He still owns the land,  his wife does, but ultimately they had to buy another lot.

 

There's another one which came up when I built my previous house in Quezon City. "A structure cannot be erected within 3 metres of a public road"......that's not a direct quote, but similar. In this case I worked with the contractor jointly and we did follow the rules all the way. As the building got near completion I made a change to the plan.

 

What was a front car port covered by a sort of plastic roofing would now be covered by an extended balcony and this balcony would overhang the patio area and would also encroach the 3 metres. So we had to ammend the permit which was done by the contractor through people he knew and per him he paid a small amount for the service.

 

However Bubba, in the case you cite it does say "opposed by neighbors" which in my opinion could be extremely tricky especially if the neighbor had any kind of influence. There in QC my neighbors where a lawyer and 2 judges on the other side. I got to know the lawyer but did not meet at that time the judges. I imagine if they objected before we got the permit things could have gotten sticky. 

 

It's a good thread because anytime a local has a grievance with a foreigner the local is sure to win and you can get stuck with a mess, a big financial loss for sure. Deportation is extreme but it is a good reminder something to consider.

 

The Filipino by nature is a jealous type, so always factor that especially when you are going to show bigger and better assets than them.

 

 

 

[RBM]

For any foreigner to consider spending funds to build when in conflict with a neighbor would be foolish. This could prove to a be very expensive and misguided endevour.

As Chris says even more so if that neighbor has any sort of influence, apart this is inviting unforeseen problems that in my opinion will manifest.

Personally I would not go ahead unless the problems resolved without loss of face on the neighbors part.

[expatuk2014]

Ahh the Building permit !!

 

yes you do need one ! before you start building is best ! otherwise it will cost more and more !!

we had a problem when we began to demolish our old home ! for a week no problem !

Then the Building inspector arrived !! apparently someone had reported us !

funny that as our home cant be seen from the road as it is behind the main family home !!

he had a quick look at the building plans measured the building area and left !!

 

it was noted by a cousin that when the building inspector left he went to our neighbour next door ( another cousin )

we had to pay just over 15.000 pesos for the building permit, we were told 5,000 went to our neighbour !

 

the building inspector at the civic centre was very sympathetic saying hardly anyone has a building permit !

and said its all Politics !!

 

The Neighbours have recently apologised for their behaviour  ( not letting us cut overhanging trees etc

which were starting to damage the roof  ) and so far everything is ok.

Edited June 25, 2015 by expatuk2014

[Thomas]

Please enlighten me with this law.

Many expats believe there are few regulations in countries as Phils, but concerning some things they have MORE regulations than even Sweden, which are known for having much regulations   haha

province

In some rural parts of provinces are no building permits needed. If it isn't inside a city/biger village, you can start with checking if your part need building permit.

If you need, it's often best to let the permit giver decide who make your blueprints - because it's common he get money from that work, so he has biger reason to say OK to it   :mocking:  

What is a PAO?

It's a "guy" who answer questions from the public in some publication/website.  I have forgot which.

a nice piece of coastal land, but ultimately got denied a permit because the land was too close to the beach and they cited an ordinance about coastal erosion.

That's not suprising. The 30 (?) meters closest to the shore belong to the government and are NOT allowed to do ANY improvements at normaly.

A resort WITH building permit for their houses got huge problem because the ocean took more and more of the land so the shore line got closer and closer to the houses. To try to stop that, the resort owner built something just to try to stop that, but then the officials came and said that isn't ok and said they had to take away all that!  (I don't know what happened after that.)

[Tukaram (Tim)]

I have heard of building permits... never seen anyone get one.  What we are building is part of a renovation.  There seems to be no permit needed.  Not sure about the law - just the reality.   :tiphat:

[Call me bubba]

What is a PAO?

 

the PAO is the public attorneys  office . which is set up to help assist the poor and under represented people for various legal issues both civil and criminal...(hint your extended family perhaps)

 

 

at present the manila times .net has a daily article that is posted .

 

it can be of yse for all that live here but native and foreigner.  this is 1 item that i stronger post about as it can be of use to all on this forum..

 

http://www.manilatimes.net/category/legal-advice/

http://www.pao.gov.ph/

 

 

 

PAO Mission

The Public Attorney’s Office exists to provide the indigent litigants, the oppressed, marginalized and underprivileged members of the society  free access to courts, judicial and quasi-judicial agencies, by rendering legal services, counselling and assistance in consonance with the Constitutional mandate that “free access to courts shall not be denied to any person by reason of poverty” in order to ensure the rule of law, truth and social justice as components of the country’s sustainable development.

[Jack Peterson]

Building Permits should be in place from the Onset, they are there for a reason. In the main to stop people building willy nilly and not doing a correct job

If every one were to play by the rules ( and Building a house is Costly.) there would be no need for DaveH's topic on Drainage, basically the other people would not be allowed to Over size the Roof or to Build to the Boundry, That's why we all need these seemingly odd and sometimes prohibitive rules, to protect what we have and What we want to do. ( Within those Rules and Permits.)

 JMHO But......................

JP

[chris49]

Building Permits should be in place from the Onset, they are there for a reason. In the main to stop people building willy nilly and not doing a correct job

If every one were to play by the rules ( and Building a house is Costly.) there would be no need for DaveH's topic on Drainage, basically the other people would not be allowed to Over size the Roof or to Build to the Boundry, That's why we all need these seemingly odd and sometimes prohibitive rules, to protect what we have and What we want to do. ( Within those Rules and Permits.)

 JMHO But......................

JP

 

I agree but the "rules" in the province do differ. Provincial building along the highway or within City Limits. You better have one, local contractor would find himself in serious trouble if he proceeds without one.

 

Provincial building on family land, interior, no encroachment, all the neighbors are relatives. Not so important, if anything does coming up you can drop into city hall and get one.

 

It was more important for us to secure the land title from mother in law away from the hands of other family members.  Paid Ma a deposit and got the land title with a written agreement in Gina's hand. If she dies we will have to settle, but we will be up for funeral expenses anyway. Eventually we will own it, but there will be a question of occupancy, we are not paying anyone's share unless they vacate their portion of the land and we cannot see that happening

[Jack Peterson]

One Big Problem we had at First was that City hall demanded a DAR Clearance from AG to Domestic, They would not Entertain the plans or anything until we got it.

 

JP :tiphat: