Mr. Antonio F. Navarrete

June 5, 1981 Mr. Antonio F. Navarrete P.O. Box 2537, Manila Dear Mr. Navarrete: This has reference to your letter dated December 4, 1980 requesting opinion on the queries posed therein. It appears from your letter that you are a purchaser under an installment plan of a unit of the Fedman Suites Condominium for the total purchase price of P360,500.00 payable at the rate of P108,150.00 as down payment and P3,028.00 monthly installment for 180 months beginning February 13, 1978; that you have paid the required down payment and is paying regularly the monthly installments thereof; but subsequently you were charged "monthly dues" which were allegedly prorated among all the unit owners of the premises on the basis of the areas they occupy for the maintenance of the "common spaces" in the condominium such as the stairs, elevators, alleys, etc. Relative thereto, you pose the following queries: "1. Being a purchaser under an installment plan, and therefore not the owner yet of the unit you are still paying for, can you be considered as a "member" of the Fedman Suites Condominium Corporation . . . . 2. Being a purchaser of a unit not yet fully paid, can you be compelled to pay dues for the common areas in the condominium, which are supposed to be commonly owned by "the owners of the office units of the condominium" pursuant to the provisions of Section 1 of Article I of the By-Laws." You now contend in your letter-query that being a purchaser on installment who has not yet fully paid the purchase price of the condominium unit, you may not therefore be considered a member of the condominium corporation. In support thereof, you cited SEC Opinion dated October 15, 1979 addressed to Atty. Renato Liboro. The applicability of the previous opinion of this Commission which you invoked in your letter-query is in order, and the same is further bolstered by a very recent decision of the Honorable Supreme Court in the case entitled "Sunset View Condominium Corporation vs. Campos, Jr. (First Division/G.R. No. 52361 and G.R. No. 52524) decided on April 27, 1981. One of the issues raised in the petitions involving the Sunset View Condominium Corporation reads as follows: "1. Is a purchase of a condominium unit in the condominium project managed by the petitioner, who has not yet fully paid the purchase price thereof, automatically a stockholder of the petitioner Condominium Corporation?" prcd This particular issue which is identical to your query, was resolved by the Supreme Court in the negative, as follows: ". . . Consequently, even under the contract, it is only the owner of the unit who is a shareholder of the Condominium Corporation . Inasmuch as ownership is conveyed only upon full payment of the purchase price, it necessarily follows that a purchaser of a unit who has not paid the full purchase price thereof is not the owner of the unit and consequently is not a shareholder of the Condominium Corporation. xxx xxx xxx Pursuant to the above statutory provision, ownership of a unit is a condition sine qua non to being a shareholder in the condominium corporation. It follows that a purchaser of a unit who is not yet the owner thereof for not having fully paid the full purchase price, is not a shareholder. By necessary implication, the "separate interest" in a condominium, which entitled the holder to become automatically a shareholder in the condominium corporation, as provided in Section 2 of the Condominium Act, can be no other than ownership of a unit. This is so because nobody can be a shareholder unless he is the owner of a unit and when he ceases to be the owner, he also ceases automatically to be a shareholder. The private respondents, therefore, who have not fully paid the purchase price of their units and are consequently not owners of their units are not members or shareholders of the petitioner condominium corporation." As your contract to Sell with Fedman Development Corporation shows that you are not yet the owner, to wit: "SECTION V. TITLE AND OWNERSHIP OF UNIT Upon full payment of the PURCHASER of the purchase price stipulated under Section II hereof, the assessments and expenses under Section IV, and the additional cost of modifications, if any, under Section 1 (f) and I (g) hereof, and otherwise upon fully compliance by the PURCHASER of all his obligations herein, the DEVELOPER shall convey to the PURCHASER all the rights and interests of the former in and to the Unit/s subject hereof, together with the interests in the Common Areas and in the Condominium Corporation appurtenant to such Unit/s." our answers to your queries are both in the negative. Please be advised accordingly. Very truly yours, (SGD.) ROSARIO N. LOPEZ Director Corporate and Legal Department