The “Palau Condominium Property Act of 2009” defines the legal relationships among the various parties involved in condominium development and ownership and establishes set guidelines by which owners make collective decisions and resolve conflicts.
The Bill amends Title 38 of the Palau National Code to include a new Chapter 9 to establish a condominium law that will give statutory recognition to the condominium form of ownership of real property and establish procedures for the creation, sale and operation of condominiums.
While signing the condominium bill into law, Toribiong pointed out some inconsistencies in the measure and recommended that several changes be made.
“Notwithstanding and despite the fact that I have chosen to sign the Bill into law, there are several things that appear to have been overlooked and several changes that need to be made to the Bill in order to fully conform it to the situation here in Palau,” Toribiong stressed.
In his correspondence addressed to House of Delegates Speaker Noah Idechong, Toribiong pointed out that the OEK should recognize the constitutional limitations imposed upon ownership of land in Palau.
Toribiong stated that the successful development of a condominium project in Palau by a citizen or non-citizen developer will certainly require that non-citizens purchase the condominium units as there are not enough potential citizen buyers to support a viable market.
However, Toribiong pointed out that Section 8 of Article XIII of the Palau Constitution provides that “only citizens of Palau and corporations wholly owned by citizens of Palau may acquire title to land or waters in Palau.”
“While the development of a condominium on property leased by the developer does not present any constitutional problems, the development of a condominium by a Palauan developer on property held by the Palauan developer would violate the above constitutional provisions the very minute a condominium unit was purchased by a non-citizen,” Toribiong said.
To avoid any future confusion, Toribiong recommended that the Bill be amended to clearly recognize and state the Palau Constitution Article XIII, Section 8 limitation, and also clearly state that ownership by a non-citizen of a condominium unit is subject to such constitutional limitation.
In the same letter, Toribiong also recommended some minor changes in the wordings, including asking the OEK to specify in Section 908 (16) that “Bureau” means the Bureau of Commercial Development within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Industries and Commerce.
Toribiong said that he is willing to meet with the members of both houses of the Legislature to discuss his recommendations and answer questions if there may be.
