AN OFFICIAL from the Land Transportation Office (LTO) XI reiterated that second-hand vehicle owners and their previous owners must transfer ownership to avoid penalties in the future.
Yuri Lim, LTO XI Law Enforcement Section Head said during the Madayaw Davao episode on Friday, that while the memorandum order mandating immediate transfer of ownership was lifted last year, new and previous owners should settle as soon as possible.
“While the policy incurs fines to the previous owner and new owner for failure to transfer ownership of the vehicle is halted temporarily, I encourage them to update registration,” Lim said.
Administrative Order (AO) No. 2024-046 signed on Aug. 30, 2024, listed the guidelines on the transfer of ownership of motor vehicles with existing registration.
LTO released AO No. 2024-046 to prevent the rampant increase in unregistered, unrecorded, double or multiple sales of motor vehicles; sales by means of open deeds of sale, and unregistered motor vehicles.
The AO mandated that the seller must report the re-sale of a vehicle within five days to the LTO and the new vehicle owner to process the transfer of ownership within 20 days. A P20,000 fine shall be charged if the owner fails to do so.
However, on Oct. 23, 2024, LTO chief Vigor Mendoza issued an order to halt the implementation of the previous order until further notice, “to clarify certain provisions for better implementation, as well as to lengthen the compliance period and allow more time to widen the information dissemination.”
Lim said transfer of ownership despite the suspension of the rule is to also hold the appropriate person accountable if for instance the vehicle is involved in an apprehension.
“If the vehicle is still named under the previous owner, and if it is apprehended, it will still register under his name which would sound an alarm to the previous owner,” Lim stressed.
Lim added that this will also prevent both seller and buyer from hassle with transactions like registration and license renewal.
