A couple of months ago, I wrote about problems we had with the management of the dorm-hotel near Sam’s school where she used to stay. They gave us hell before returning the security deposit and only after I threatened to sue their asses did they hand over the money. Well, here’s a different perspective on the lessor-lessee relationship. This has nothing to do with that dorm-hotel. This happened to a friend, a fellow lawyer, who visited and had dinner at the house recently.
My friend, let’s just call her Atty. E., co-owns with her siblings a house left by their parents. Since Atty. E. and all her siblings are financially independent and none had need of the house, they decided to rent it out. It was good going for a while until the last lessee. A family — husband, wife, teenaged daughter, and three other younger children. Atty. E.’s policy is three months’ advanced payment in cash. The lessees asked if the third month payment could be covered by check as they were short of cash. Atty. E. agreed.
Then, the check bounced. Atty. E. asked them to cover the amount in cash, the lessees didn’t and eventually refused to talk to her. When the rent for the fourth month fell due, no payment was made. So, what was Atty. E. to do? Most lessors would have filed a case for ejectment, a civil action. But Atty. E. is an attorney and she knew just how useless that would be. She filed a criminal case. Bouncing Checks Law which, in the Philippines, constitutes estafa.
But Atty. E. did more than file a criminal case. She investigated the background of her lessees. She discovered that the family had been engaged in the same modus operandi for the last ten years. They had been moving from house to house — three of which where in the same village as Atty. E.’s house (it’s a huge village, nine phases in all). They would rent a house, fail to pay rent and, if the house came furnished, they would disappear with the owner’s appliances and furniture.
So, my friend was smart. After learning that she was dealing with professional scammers, she decided to turn the table on them. She got in touch with the previous lessors and taught them that ejectment was no use and to file cases for estafa instead. She also told them where to find the family so they could demand payment and have arrest warrants served if they decide to file criminal cases.
She went to the husband’s former employer — a bank. Figures, right? That’s probably why the man was well-versed with the ins and outs of the real estate business. He knew that unpaid rentals normally meant an ejectment case that it was easy to get around that. Delay, delay, delay. Then, disappear.
Then, Atty. E. went to the husband’s current employer, an insurance company where he works as an agent. She told the insurance company of the man’s background. All documented, naturally.
And when the husband and wife still refused to talk to her, when Atty. E. came to the leased house and there was only the teenaged daughter to talk to her, she told the girl that her father would go to prison.
In short, by the time she was done with her preliminary work, the family had nowhere to go. The husband and wife were being harassed by former lessors and there was a warrant of arrest to boot. By the time the estafa case was in the prosecutor’s office, the lessees agreed to settle all their obligations.
So what’s the lesson here?
If you’re a lessor, ask for post-dated checks to cover the rent for the first 12 months. If the contract is longer than 12 months, another set of checks should be given by the lessee before the last of the first set of PDCs falls due. And the moment a check bounces, file a criminal case immediately. Don’t delay. What’s the significance? Prison, baby. Prison. When a criminal case for estafa is filed (rather than the usual ejectment), a warrant of arrest is issued against the person who signed the check that bounced. Even if he vacates the house and manages to rent elsewhere, that estafa case — and arrest warrant — will follow him wherever he goes. He will be a hunted man.
Good for Atty. E.I once had to help my client-lessor padlock the leased property. Since the lessees still had a lot of appliances inside, they were forced to settle. May I know if the village is Greenwoods Village in Pasig/Cainta?
No, not the same village but the same area.
Property owners should have some sort of training or orientation before going into the business of having their properties leased to someone else, as not all of them are lawyers who would know what legal remedies and best courses of actions to take when lessees become delinquents.
Hi Ms. Connie, I'd like to ask your permission to copy/paste this article.
Where to?
Why not just link to it?
I was hoping to forward it to my sister in an email. Now that you mentioned it, I guess it's more convenient to just send a link instead.
We have a similar situation with Atty. E's. Only in our case, the lessee is a business owner.
There's a lesson to be learned here. Thanks for sharing.
Your friend's success at trumping a scammer calls for an appropriate song! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBeT4ptY9sY
It appears that the song has a version by Green Day?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TOVkiBE2r4&featur…
Before "American Idiot" came out, I had never heard of Green Day. LOL My daughter, Alex, would probably know this song. She is such a Green Day fan.
Does an estafa case cover checks issued from a closed account?
Oh yes.
Thanks for this, Ms. Connie! Someone in our e-group was a victim of a similar modus. The family in question is allegedly that of Ketchup Eusebio –the one from ABS-CBN, I think? His family rented the furnished house and suddenly left it, taking most of the furniture daw. Will forward this to article to my e-group.
hi ms. connie, good afternoon po.. i've been reading ur blog few months ago pa.. also the pinoy cook (ang dami ko pong natutunan sa inyo).. meron po kasing mga properties ang dad ko dito, ako po nagma-manage since na sa US cia at every 2yrs nauwe dito sa pinas.. ok po bang mag file ng criminal case kung matagal ng wala ung tenant, way back years pa.. may posiibility pa kayang mag bayad.. tnx po..
I suggest you hire a lawyer, tell him/her ALL the facts, including dates, because there is such a thing as prescriptive period.
Thanks for the article Ms. Connie. I guess it's really safer if you ask for a check. It just happened to us just this month. A tenant in my lola's building left after 3 months. Their contract is 1 year. And hell, they are asking for a refund. No way! And they also left us with a 10,000 pesos electric bill. The nerve!
i guess in the Phillipines the electricity bill will always be in the owners name? i am living in the us, and apartment complexes usually will have individual meters in each unit so they are paying the bill not the owners.
Electricity account is in the owner's name, yes. But the lessees pay for their consumption, not the owner. Whether it's a detached house, apartment building or condo building, units have individual meters.
I guess that's different – as a renter I had the electricity in my name.
May modus na palang ganyan? Grabe. Lahat na talaga gagawin para makaloko. Pero hindi ba decriminalized na ang BP 22? Thanks for sharing Ms Connie.
Maraming Salamat Ms. Connie, God, I wish we could do that here in the US. Like get post dated checks from your tenants. All you can do is get first and last months rent plus security deposit and have a rent due date and lay out the late fees in the lease agreement. My wife's a lawyer too and we still get headaches. Even if your renter is a pain you almost have to jump to several hoops to get rid of them. Renter's Rights and all and heaven help you if your property is in a rent controlled area.
Anyway, I enjoy your blog, your commentaries on life in the Philippines, politics, travel, family etc. I found it through Paul, The Unlawyer. Thanks again.
good thing she was a lawyer!