A sister of property developer Delfin Lee is seeking P10 million in damages against DoubleDragon Corp. (DD) of bilyonaryos Injap Sia and Tony Tan Caktiong for failing to provide her condominium title more than three years after full payment.
In its February 16 complaint filed with the Human Settlements and Adjudication Commission (HSUD), Worldwood Trading of Adelina Lee Chen accused DD of giving it the run-around when it demanded the release of the title to a 424-square meter unit in Skysuites Tower at the corner of Quezon Avenue and EDSA.
(Skysuites was the flagship project of Delfin’s Globe Asiatique until it was foreclosed by Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. and acquired by DD in 2014).
Due to DD’s refusal to release the CCT, Worldwood said it could not use the property as collateral for bank loans especially during the pandemic which broke out in March 2020.
Under the law, developers are supposed to release the deed of sale and transfer of title within six months after full payment.
In Worldwood’s case, DD only acknowledged the sale in 2019 but has not released its condominium certificate of title (CCT) as of this writing. (DD finally released the deed of sale to Worldwood just days after the case was filed with HSUD).
Worldwood said that every time it emailed or called DD, the company’s officials and staff could not provide concrete and specific information on the release of the CCT.
After getting the cold shoulder from DD, Worldwood was forced to file a complaint with the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development in July 2021. Worldwood said DD finally responded to its demands only after the DHSUD stepped in.
Even after a conciliation meeting arranged by DHSUD, DD still refused to commit to release Worldwood’s CCT on or before the end of April 2022.
In a statement to Bilyonaryo.com, DD belittled Worldwood’s complaint and claimed it was surprised by the complaint because DD and Worldwood have been in constant communication.
“This is a non-issue at this point until the lapse of the April 30, 2022 delivery date of the title. The title is expected to be released the soonest possible time,” said DD.
“The said unit has already been turned over to WorldWood and was duly accepted by them. On process is the release of their Condominium Title which, in a meeting with the presence of the (DHSUD), the April 30, 2022 delivery date was set because we are still following up with government agencies which is beyond our control, including the effects of Covid in their respective agencies’ operations,” DD added.
In its complaint, Worldwood claimed DD has been having trouble releasing the title of Skysuites because it has “no valid title to the property.”
“The lapse of more than three years for the release of title is obviously an unreasonable and unjustifiable length of time, especially from one of the biggest developers in the country. (DD) used the investment of (Worldwood) for more than three years since it fully paid the subject property,” Worldwood said in its complaint.
SOURCE: Bilyonaryo