Estimated Collections of LEHOA

Because of the absence of a financial statement given by Lancaster Estates Homeowners Association to its paying members we have come up with this probable value that they could possibly collect in a month from the paying members of the association. And the earnings have been compared to other subdivisions with bigger properties to give an objective comparison if this homeowners association is over-charging its members and if there are possible excess that the community could have used if there was any.



The Lancaster Estates Homeowners Association (LEHOA) is registered under HLURB with license number 14191 since November 2009. Its bylaws, which is the basis of the HOA dues, has been drafted without community consultation and approval as proven by questions asked to the homeowners who were already residing in Lancaster Residences even before that date. The structure of the organization have 5 directorial seats where as of currently, the board of directors are all employees of the developer, Property Company of Friends, Inc. There were also developer-appointed officers from the homeowners which were not elected according to the developer's Estates and Asset Management CRD Head, in the form of "block representatives".

The block representatives have no decision-making power as the board of directors composed of the employees of the developer monopolizes that power. As such, the esteemed "homeowners association" is not led or made up of homeowners but by developers.

The jurisdiction of LEHOA encompasses a total of 11 phases from 2 major subdivision projects of Pro-Friends under their Lancaster Estates project; and occupies 2 municipalities in Cavite, namely Kawit and Imus the total area of which is only about 0.49 sq.km. however it is already composed of about 3,977 units.

The subdivisions mentioned are Lancaster Village 1, Lancaster Village 2-East and 2-West, and Lancaster Residences Phases 1 - 7.

The units in Lancaster Residences has an average of 48 sq.m lot allocations while in Lancaster Village has about an average of 90 sq.m.

LEHOA Jurisdiction

Assuming all homeowner members pay for the homeowners association dues, the following can be collected by Pro-Friends through LEHOA every month.

LEHOA Dues Rates per Lancaster Estates Project

Imus
1. Lancaster Residences 1 - PHP 220 X 477 units = PHP 104,940.00
2. Lancaster Residences 2-7 - PHP 300 X 2400 units = PHP 720,000.00
3. Lancaster Village 2 - PHP 500 x 500 units = PHP 250,000.00

Kawit
4. Lancaster Village 1 - PHP 500 X 600 units = PHP 300,000.00

Total Collections : PHP 1,374,940

In Lancaster Residences, alone, they have the potential to collect of up to Php 825,000 per month for the community's security, garbage collection, MERALCO light posts and minimal grass cutting of unsold lots.

Now let us compare it with one of the subdivision I know.

Other Subdivision specification:

Society Class: Upper Class B
Location: City
Area: 0.68 sq.km.
Units: 200 units
Average unit area: 250 sq.m.
Total Collections: Php 250 x 200 units - PHP 50,000

Disbursements:
Electricity (40 MERALCO Light posts and  a covered basketball court) : Php 24,000
Security Personnel : Php 15,000
Garbage Collection: Php 1,000
Total Disbursements: Php 40,000

Savings per month: Php 10,000

As a point of comparison, this particular subdivision is about 20,000 square meters bigger than combined LR 1-7 + LV1 + LV2W + LV2E and only has 200 units as compared to a total of 3,977, yet the total monthly dues collection potential of LEHOA is over 27 times bigger than this smaller subdivision with bigger units and society class type. And this particular subdivision even has a savings of about Php 10,000/month which is given back to the homeowners for social activities.

Below will give a visual representation of the area comparison and the corresponding HOA dues of LEHOA and the other subdivision.

Lancaster vs. Other Subdivision on its area and HOA dues collected per month.

HOA Dues / Subdivision Area Ratio

Explanation

Including the public area of the subdivision versus the potential HOA dues collection of the other subdivision and of LEHOA, it seems LEHOA collects HOA dues at 27 times more expensive than the upper class B subdivision mentioned in the comparison at P28 per square meter rate at Lancaster versus 73 centavos per square meter at the other subdivision.

Conclusion

Resistance of the LEHOA under the management of 5 Board of Directors which are all employees of the developer, Pro-Friends, to provide a financial report even if it was asked by paying members is a dubious response by LEHOA. Assuming the potential amount of the collection is of this magnitude.

This could also be the reason why the developer would like to involve itself in the Homeowners Association amidst of the law that states that a developer must not involve itself in HOA operations as well as collection of its dues. See previous articles LEHOA Bylaws and PD957 and RA9904, Homeowners dues illegaly being collected by the developer.

Solution
It is mandated by law that Homeowners Association must respond to queries regarding its activities and financial reports. And if they did not comply; and add to it that the association is held by the developer, invoke your rights in RA9904 as members to dissolve and remove the developers in leading and managing our homeowners association.  Let your co-homeowners do it via properly and democratically elected directors. In this way, we are sure that the operations of our homeowners association will be legal and we have more power and voice over our HOA which should have been in the first place.