House ratifies bicam report on rent control law

Congress has extended the Rent Control Law to 2008.

Bukidnon Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri, the bill’s author in the House of Representatives, said the new law covers houses, apartments and lots used as residences, where the monthly rent does not exceed P10,000 in Metro Manila and other highly urbanized cities, and P5,000 in other parts of the country.

"The bill can help ease the impact of the new round of value-added tax increases," he said.

Zubiri said a lessee could now invoke the protection of the Rent Control Law if he or she has been occupying the rented premises since the new law took effect.

A residential unit is defined under the bill as an apartment, house or lot on which the dwelling is located, boarding houses, rooms and bed spaces.

Among those exempted from the law’s coverage are rooms in a motel, hotel and resort, he added.

Zubiri said the extended Rent Control Law will take effect "sometime next month" after it is signed by President Arroyo.

"It is certainly a VAT-mitigating measure. It’s an early Christmas gift of the House to the whole nation," he said, referring to the value-added tax.

Zubiri said the House, voting unanimously, ratified the bicameral conference committee report last Monday to extend the Rent Control Law to 2008.

The Senate also approved the bill after it passed through the Bicameral Conference Committee, where the Senate and House bills are reconciled, and then passed by Congress.

Zubiri said once signed into law by Mrs. Arroyo, the bill, which he has called the "Rental Reform Act," would prohibit lessors from collecting more than a one-month advance and two-month deposit from lessees. — Delon Porcalla