Since 1966, a single unit owner has been able to block the redevelopment of an entire condominium. Under Republic Act 4726, the original Condominium Act, dissolving a condo corporation to rebuild on its land required the consent of 100% of owners. A majority was not enough. Neither was a supermajority.

For a tower with several hundred units, that standard is close to unreachable. An owner who has moved abroad and cannot be traced, or one holding out for a bigger payout, is enough to freeze the process. The result is visible across Metro Manila: older condominiums that have long outlived their economic logic, still standing because no one could get every signature.

On September 3, the Senate approved Senate Bill 2420, the proposed Condominium Redevelopment Act, on third and final reading by a vote of 18-0. Its sponsor, Sen. Chiz Escudero, made the case directly: requiring every single owner to agree is a bar no one can realistically clear, and the bill is designed to remove it.

What SB 2420 changes

The bill swaps the single unanimity rule for approval thresholds that loosen as a building gets older.

In other words, the more a building has aged, the fewer signatures it takes to wind down the corporation and open the site to redevelopment.

Two further changes ease the path. Amending or revoking a master deed would need only a simple majority of registered owners, provided DHSUD and the local engineer are notified and give their approval. And transferring common areas to a condominium corporation would no longer be subject to any national or local tax, removing a cost that has long weighed on redevelopment deals.

Stronger safeguards for buyers

The bill does not only make it easier to redevelop. It also raises the standard for what replaces the old building.

Floor area tolerance. How far a delivered unit may differ from its advertised size now depends on unit size, from 6% for units of 60 sqm or less down to 2% for units above 500 sqm. Buyers whose units come in smaller than that allowance can pursue the remedies already available under law.
Certificate of Completion. Developers must secure one from DHSUD before turning over common areas.
Accountability for defects. Owners keep the right to go after developers for defects discovered after turnover.

The bill as a whole applies across the board: to condominiums already standing, to projects still being built, and to those yet to break ground.

Why the timing matters

The bill arrives just as our market data points to a city running short of good land and long on unsold units.

On the residential side, our 1H 2026 Residential Market report puts Metro Manila's condominium stock at about 803,000 units. Unsold inventory has climbed to a record 82,900 units spread across 616 buildings. Since 2019, condo prices have risen 62% while incomes have grown just 20%, and that gap is making new projects harder to sell. Developers are putting more of their energy into clearing existing stock.

On the land side, supply is tightening. Our 1H 2026 Office Market data shows Makati CBD vacancy at a lean 13%, and no new buildings are slated to open in either Makati CBD or Ortigas Center until after 2028. The same scarcity extends to residential sites. Many of the metro's earliest condominiums stand on some of the most valuable urban land in the Philippines, land now worth considerably more than the aging buildings on top of it.

Why owners should think like landowners

We see SB 2420 as a measure that turns owners who were stuck in place into holders of prime CBD land.

In Makati, the land under an older condominium is frequently worth more than every unit in the building put together. That calls for a shift in mindset. Owners should be pricing their property as a development site, not as a collection of apartments.

Take a low-rise of 40 or 50 years on a strong Makati lot. Kept as is, it is simply an aging building. Demolished and rebuilt at higher density, it can unlock far more value. Until now, owners had no practical way to capture that upside. This bill gives them one.

What happens next

Senate approval is an important step, but the bill is not yet law. Several stages remain:

Passage in the House of Representatives.
A bicameral conference committee to reconcile the Senate and House versions.
The President's signature.
Implementing rules and regulations (IRR) drafted by DHSUD, setting out how dissolution votes and redevelopment will work on the ground.

The IRR deserves the closest attention. It is where the practical details will be settled, and those details will decide whether individual projects move forward or stall.

For owners of older buildings in prime locations, now is a good time to take a fresh look at what they hold. A building's value as a structure and its land's value as a redevelopment site are often far apart. This law is what begins to bring those two numbers together.