Frequently Asked Questions - Homeowners Association in Lancaster Residences

The following are a collection of questions asked to us, directly or indirectly via social networks and emails. We found it necessary to bring up this article so that this can be used as a one-click resource of your questions regarding this site, our village - Lancaster Residences in Alapan Imus Cavite, and our fight for an independent Homeowners Association without influence nor handling of any employee or stake holders of the real estate developer.

Feel free to browse through our sets of FAQs below and if you have more questions, you may ask them on the comments section below. And if you get lucky and we find your question very pertinent, we may add it up on this page.




Q1: Why are you posting this in the first place? We are not interested.
A: Then this FAQ is not for you. Please move on.


Q2: How important is a homeowners association to a subdivision such as Lancaster Residences?
A: The homeowners association is important to a subdivision because its responsibility is to ensure that the welfare of the community will be attended to. Some of the basic responsibilities of a HOA is to provide security, garbage collection, street lighting within its jurisdiction.


Q3: How much should we pay for our homeowners association dues?
A: The homeowners dues varies. It variably depends on the needs of the community to which this is discussed by the HOA directors among the homeowners and requires an approval by a majority of the members of the homeowners association (the homeowners themselves) before it can take into effect. Did this happen in LEHOA? According the homeowners, the consultation did not happen. For comparison of HOA dues in Lancaster Residences versus another higher class subdivision, check out our article here.


Q4: Who has the right to handle a Homeowners Association?
A: According to RA9904, the homeowners should be handled by 5-15 board of directors. All of them must be residents of the subdivision where it would have its jurisdiction and must have been elected by members (homeowners) themselves.


Q5: Who is handling the homeowners association in Lancaster Residences now?
A: The Lancaster Estate Homeowners Association (LEHOA) is the registered and legal HOA in Lancaster Residences which is composed of 5 Board of Directors which are all non-residents of Lancaster Residences and are employees of its real-estate developer, Property Company of Friends, Inc. (Pro-friends)


Q6: If LEHOA is handled by the real-estate developer, then, it is illegal, correct?
A: Precisely. You may check this article for more information.


Q7: There are insufficient number of occupied units in Lancaster Residences, obviously, it is just right for Pro-Friends to handle the HOA or else no one or it is insufficient for the homeowners to pay for the street lights and security guards, correct?
A: Incorrect. As per PD957 and RA9904, it is illegal for the developer to handle a homeowners association. As per PD957, the real-estate developer is required to shoulder their project's maintenance, utilities, etc. when there is insufficient number of occupancy. However in the event that a developer could no longer handle the expenses, they should help the homeowners to put up their own Homeowners Association and transfer the responsibility to them. As of June 2013, LR is already about 75% occupied.


Q8: What is the difference between a water bill and a homeowners association dues?
A water bill is a bill that you need to pay monthly for the water supply you receive on your faucets. In LR, it is supplied by Southlink Water Works Inc. While the homeowners association dues is a monthly dues you pay to the Homeowners Association.


Q9: Why is the homeowners association dues collected via the water bill in Lancaster Residences?
A: According to Southlink Water Works Inc., they only serve as the collecting agent for homeowners association dues so they incorporate the HOA dues together with their water bill. However do take note that according to PD957, the developer or any third party entity is not allowed to collect payments for Homeowners association. Southlink's owner is a big stake holder of the real-estate developer of Lancaster Residences which is Pro-friends. See how the HOA dues is incorporated within the water bill of Lancaster Residences here.

Q10: Are real-estate developers required to put-up a homeowners association when they have a real-estate project such as Lancaster Residences?
A: No. They are however required to have an HLURB license number to develop housing projects. And on PD957, they are recommended to help the homeowners put up a homeowners association... but not to handle it.


Q11: I would rather want the real-estate developer to handle the HOA than a homeowner because they are easier to locate and sue when necessary. Is this possible?
A: It is not possible unless you ask your congressmen to pass a law revising RA9904 that a real-estate developer may handle a homeowners association. As of now it is illegal. And regarding the real-estate developer is easier to locate and sue when necessary as compared to a homeowner... this must be disputed. A homeowner that corrupted a HOA can only hide against the law; however a big company such a real-estate developer can show up in front of you and hire lawyers to turn around the law and put the blame back on you.


Q12: What can you say about the security guards of Lancaster Residences?
A: They are good, actually. Their services have improved over the last few months. They will greet you and salute you when you arrive. They even go around the subdivision at a regular basis since January 2013. However, if they will be made to choose between the real-estate developer and the homeowners, they will definitely choose their loyalty to the real-estate developer. You may ask why when we are anyway paying for the HOA dues which in turn used to give them their salary. That is correct. However because LEHOA is currently handled by Pro-friends, these security guards know that it is the developer that feeds them and not the homeowners. This is proven on the "Two-way Radio Incident" story. Don't know the story? You may ask about it on LR Homeowners Facebook group. 


Q13: Are you connected to LRUOA?
A: The admins of this site is not connected to any factions or organizations within Lancaster Residences. Much more we are not connected to Pro-friends. However we would publicly mention that of all the neighborhood factions in Lancaster Residences, we believe that LRUOA is the closest hope you can get for a developer-independent homeowners association (know why do we think so in our article here). Yet we urge for the unification of all factions to unite and be elected by the homeowners to a homeowners association where there are no positions for a real-estate developer; as demanded by law.


Q14: You trust LRUOA? I've heard that its president is rude. I would never trust them to handle the homeowners association. Never.
A:  Rudeness is a personal, relative and a consequential term. But this is what we have to say: The admins of this site mentions that LRUOA is the closest hope you can get for a developer-independent homeowners association. But it does not mean that LRUOA is what we want to be in the homeowners association. As we have mentioned, we urge for the unification of all factions in LR and elect your HOA directors to a HOA that is not handled by a real-estate developer. If you feel that you are entitled, more capable, and more rightful to be a HOA director, then be a candidate and let the people decide.


Q15: The incumbent LRUOA's president is handling a lot of businesses inside Lancaster Residences and so I find it that he has hidden agenda that's why he wanted to get control of the HOA. Right?
A: We all need to survive. And morally, we need to earn a living decently. The admins of this site does not delve into fallacies such as ad hominem attacks. If people have issues with this person, place them into proper fora. And regarding him controlling the HOA, please refer to our previous QnA above.


Q16: It is too early to transfer the HOA to the homeowners. Why are you guys on a hurry to be transferred to the homeowners? Are you in it for money?
A: Probably, we can bring back the question to you. When is the right time? However, the law can answer to you: PD957 and RA9904 does not have a time frame on when there should be a HOA, however it strictly specifies that no real-estate developer must handle it. If a HOA exists but the developer is handling it, then it is illegal and must be transferred immediately to elected homeowners. So, it is not for the money. It is for the law and the homeowners welfare.


Q17: I still consider that you guys are in it for the money that is why you want to transfer the HOA immediately to the homeowners. Right?
A: In any organization there is money. Whether it can be a non-profit organization such as a HOA, it still has money. The question is, is there a process or policy to discourage corruption and safeguard its assets? There should be; and this is what the homeowners need to ensure with their elected HOA directors. As for this time-being, Pro-friends who is handling LEHOA does not give an audited, and regular financial statement to homeowners when asked even by paying members. Why? Because they are not required to; and also because they are not even elected by the homeowners. They are in the payroll of Pro-Friends so they are only obligated to have their loyalty and to report to the company that feeds them.


Q18: The free shuttle services provided by the developer is very helpful. Would this be affected if in case the HOA will be finally given to the homeowners?
A: We are expecting that this will be asked and so we have a ready answer for you. The shuttle services is provided by Pro-Friends and is free. However this was provided but not as part of the Homeowners Association services; and definitely is not part of the amenities promised by the real-estate developer. Thus, the developer can pull this out anytime they wish to; or they can even monopolize the service and collect fees from it without any liability from anyone. The shuttle service is currently used as a marketing tool so that more potential customers who have issues with transportation for the far reaches of the Lancaster Estates Project to which the current farthest project with occupants is about 5 kilometers from the main road will feel that transportation is not a problem. The developer can easily use the free shuttle as the reason why you should not pull out the HOA from them as a blackmail as well.

If Pro-Friends is indeed willing to help the homeowners, they should have instead opened the shuttle services to homeowners'-owned cooperative so that the community itself will prosper and not just one big capitalist company. And as there would be competition with the expensive tricycle, the fare will definitely be reduced. However if the developer maintains its hold on the shuttle services, once they pull it out, due to economics law of supply and demand, the presently expensive tricycle fare would even go higher. Possible blackmail, right? I hope not. But if they do so once the HOA is given to the homeowners, then that could be it.


Q19: Why do you hate the real-estate developer?
A: Hate is a personal and subjective term. Let us use objectivity to answer this question.
Property Company of Friends, Inc., the real-estate developer of Lancaster New City project is plagued by sub-standard construction issues. Some of them are documented on this blog: Construction Lapses of Pro-friends. And even an episode of Imbestigador last September 23, 2012 covered the their lapses on one of their projects in Imus (Montefaro) here. However, instead of responding positively to such issues, they have even became stricter on their inspection policies to their buyers. They started to prohibit unscheduled visits of their customers to the construction of their properties. And a scheduled inspection would only be allowed twice and this should only be allowed when the unit is already painted. Hence, you have not seen how it was constructed and if there are any defects, they are now covered by paint of have been sand-blasted. According to Pro-friends, this is to ensure the safety of their customers. Yet the simplest solution to safety is either to provide hard hats to inspecting customers when visiting or have these customers sign a waiver before inspection.

With how they treat their customers, it is very dangerous to trust them if they handle the homeowners association for Lancaster Residences. And this is in addition to the legality issue of having them handle the homeowners association. For the homeowners of Lancaster Residences, would you want the developer to handle the homeowners association? I guess not.


Q20: No real-estate developer is perfect. You talk so much against Pro-Friends. Would you stop doing that as it affects our investments?
A: This is another fallacy, ad populum. Not because no developer is perfect, then it means you need to just accept it as is. Absolutely incorrect. The best you could do is to either find ways to ensure that you make a scenario to force Pro-friends to meet the standard quality of your homes as stated on the National Building Code and Business Standards. Or save yourselves from worry and try to find a better one. The issue here is your home and the future of its community via a Homeowners Association. Do not bury your heads in the sand and pretend blind on such issues just to protect your investment. Face the problem and the source of the issue why your investment is at loss. The admins of this blog site is not for violence nor for the disruption of your investments. We are for correcting the wrong and suggesting the right thing to do.


Q21: If you don't like the developer and the quality of the houses in Lancaster New City Cavite, why are you still here?
A: We all have our own reasons. Some weren't as lucky as you all are who are fed with first-hand experiences before they accepted the units. We are already here and so we find ways to solve our issues one by one. And as we can see, the issues we have is primarily rooted to the real-estate developer, Pro-Friends. We are also victims like you. Do not blame us on what the developer has placed on us to bear.


Q22: Have you talked to Pro-Friends regarding your issues with the HOA and all?
A: Yes, a couple of times. A number of ways. Most of the time, it fell on deaf ears. But last time, we were even able to provide a win-win situation suggestions to the developer via the Estates and Asset Management Division and even the the vice president of that division is present. And it all fell in political smiles with deaf ears. Even lawsuits have been flown to some who have tried to speak out in the past instead of providing solutions.

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If you have more questions, feel free to place a civilized comment below and we'll answer the best we can.