Here's a timeline on how we cancelled our CTS (Contract to Sell) with Amaia Skies Avenida, and get a 50% refund...
✨ December 2020 - we reserved 2 studio units at Amaia Skies Avenida, which was pre-selling then. The property cost ₱3M without VAT. Including all other charges it cost ₱3.264M per unit. With 54 months to pay we were paying ₱11,351.32 for both units. Our checks are dated until June 30, 2025.
5 years later...
✨ January 2025 - started selling the property. Had our broker post it online for interest. Turn over was delayed, as expected. The original purpose for this investment is really to buy and sell. We weren't in a rush yet.
✨ March 2025 - 3 months in the market and no solid interest.
✨ May 2025 - we started getting more involved in selling, posting on our personal pages and selling to friends. We've also entered the listing in several condo pasalo groups, including Facebook Marketplace. But reception remained dismal.
✨ June 2025 - we learned that the developer is selling at a ridiculously low price. Much lower than our selling price. They offer 10% discount for no spot DP, or 20% off if you pay 10% DP. There's no way we can compete with that. Let's compute.
Current market price is ₱3.8M.
With 20% off, selling price would be down to ₱3M. Adding VAT and all other charges, the total selling price would probably fall around ₱3.3M. This is developer price. Which is almost the same price 5 years ago.
We need to pasalo ₱2.94M to the buyer. This is the amount we owe to the developer which can be bank financed. It's fixed. This leaves us with a profit margin of only ₱360,000.If we sell at ₱3.3M - considering capital gains tax (6%), documentary stamps tax (1.5%), and broker's fee (5%), we take home -₱50K. That's NEGATIVE ₱50,000 HAHAHA.
Now let's price match the 10% developer discount. That would bring down the price to ₱3.42M. Add other charges and net selling price would probably go to ₱3.72M.
With the same pasalo amount, we get a margin of around ₱780K.
If we sell at ₱3.72M - with the same taxes and fees applied, we get to take home more or less ₱300K per unit. Sweet right? But remember, developer price has NO SPOT DP. Whereas we require a cashout of ₱780K. And we've been on the market for half a year already. No takers.
Currently we've brought down the price to ₱3.6M and still there are no takers. Any lower and we're looking at a loss of more than 50%.
We weren't considering taking a loan on this one cos honestly, after much thinking, the property isn't worth it. A ₱6M loan would take us back ₱40K per month for 20 years and no way we're paying that much for a property that doesn't even have that much potential. It's admittedly a bad investment. Made worse because of the economy and quite honestly, the POGO exit lol.
That said we've decided to cut our losses by invoking our rights through the Maceda Law/ PD 957. At least we get 50% back.
HOW TO KNOW IF YOU QUALIFY FOR A REFUND?
Respicio & Co. gives a comprehensive explanation on how you can get a refund under Maceda Law / PD957. You may read about it here: https://www.respicio.ph/commentaries/condo-contract-cancellation-under-pd-957
In our case since turnover is delayed and we've paid for more than 2 years, we just had to formally request for cancellation of contract and the developer should honor it - no questions asked. The law also overrides any non-refundable clauses found in your contract, especially for preselling condos paid on installment basis. 😊
Take note that you can only get at least 50% refund with this method. And this only applies to developer contracts, not bank contracts. If you have taken a loan already, I'm afraid this is not the right recourse.
Here's how to reach Ayala Land Inc.
Respicio & Co. gives a comprehensive explanation on how you can get a refund under Maceda Law / PD957. You may read about it here: https://www.respicio.ph/commentaries/condo-contract-cancellation-under-pd-957
In our case since turnover is delayed and we've paid for more than 2 years, we just had to formally request for cancellation of contract and the developer should honor it - no questions asked. The law also overrides any non-refundable clauses found in your contract, especially for preselling condos paid on installment basis. 😊
Take note that you can only get at least 50% refund with this method. And this only applies to developer contracts, not bank contracts. If you have taken a loan already, I'm afraid this is not the right recourse.
Here's how to reach Ayala Land Inc.
ALI Residential Customer Service
residential.customers@ayalaland.com.ph
+632 8848 5000
I also called them beforehand to inquire about the process and let them know I'm emailing afterwards. They seem to respond faster if you call them first.
✨ June 30, 2025 - They acknowledged the email and promised to revert back as soon as the computation for refund is available. At this point we have paid around ₱650K to Amaia. We're hoping to get at least ₱325K back.
✨ July 17, 2025 - Sent a follow up email.
✨ July 18, 2025 - They finally responded with a refund computation. The letters indicate we are entitled to around ₱163K per unit. Exactly 50% of the amount we paid. The letters were also dated July 8, 2025. If we hadn't followed up I wonder if they're ever gonna send it 🤔. Anyway, we're happy.
So to note, it takes one week for the refund computation to be available. Make sure to follow up then.
✨ July 21, 2025 - We acknowledged the refund computation and asked to proceed with the cancellation.
✨ July 22, 2025 - ALI has started preparation of DOC (Deed of Cancellation) and RWQ (Release, Waiver, and Quitclaim). Process will take 10 working days. We're expecting a soft copy then. They also mentioned that the refund will be issued through check. But since we requested for bank transfer instead, they will endorse the check for bank deposit as soon as it's available. We then gave our bank details. 😊
✨ August 5, 2025 - Sent a follow-up email.
✨ August 12, 2025 - called ALI because no one was responding to the email (as usual). Turns out the documents are already available and no one cared to reply to the email. I rated them low in the post-call survey. They sent the DOC and RWQ right after. We were given until August 22 to send back the signed scanned copies.
✨ August 20, 2025 - Sent a scanned copy of the DOC and RWQ for approval before getting the latter notarized. It was quite an ordeal getting the docs printed and signed. DOC needs to be in 5 copies, and RWQ needs to be in 2 copies, 3 - including the copy you leave at the notary.
✨ August 21, 2025 - ALI replied in the affirmative in consideration that all pages have been duly signed.
So now we wait. They say the timeline for check availability could be 5-6 weeks. Surprisingly...
✨ September 1, 2025 - They emailed that one of our checks is now available for pickup, and they're following up the other check.
✨ September 2, 2025 - Our 2nd check is now ready! I know we requested to just have the check deposited to our account, but in our excitement we're just gonna pick it up tomorrow. We had the RWQ notarized this night.
✨ September 3, 2025 - Finally got our checks! They were dated August 15 and 19 so it's been ready for over 2 weeks before they had the diligence to inform us. I'm happy it didn't take 5 weeks but I'm not impressed at the inefficiency. They're super slow.
The refund computation that was ready on July 8, they never told us until 10 days later after we followed up.
The DOC and RWQ has long been ready and we would never have known if we didn't call. They have no initiative. Could've saved us a week.
And now, we could've gotten our checks a week earlier, but they were just so damn bad at updating their clients. They always need to be nagged.
Anyway. All is good now that we had our checks deposited. The refund was issued in a form of manager's check from Deutsche Bank.
✨ Finally ✨
From our initial email on June 28 up to today, September 3 - it took 10 weeks to get our 50% refund back. But if you kept following up for the availability of the computation, DOC, RWQ, and check, it could save you 4 weeks of waiting. 😊
That's it! Hope this helps.