Land purchase advice

[SimonH]

I wonder if anyone can help, or at least point me in the right direction?

I have recently returned from a trip to Palawan and found a piece of land that I am interested in buying. Does anyone know a good lawyer in this field that can do the necessary checks for me, land registry etc. I'd rather use someone recommended from here, then I'd know they were independent and be working in my interests rather than a friend of the sellers.

Lots of other questions, but they will come in time.

Thanks

Simon

[KeithD]

Foreigners can't buy land in the Philippines

[SimonH]

Foreigners can't buy land in the Philippines

Cheers Keith,

Was aware of this and the land will be put in my partners name, appreciate the advice though

p.s. any tips for today

[mism]

Hi Simon, I'm Mism and I am a sales agent in real estate and that's true you can't buy here under your name or put in your partners name...

[SimonH]

Hi Mism, I was under the impression that my partner could own land in the Philippines as she holds a Philippine passport although she does live here

[sars_notd_virus]

Simon, If you are happy to purchased a piece of land for your partner then go for it!! property lawyer can be easily found as long as you got the money to pay them...also, please be aware that after it has been sold under your partners name , you have no rights , obligation or antyhing to do with it,...your partner can sell or have it rented without your knowledge as you gave her the money for it , you dont own ...its not yours!!

[Terpe]

Simon

Sorry I can't recommend a good lawyer.

I can share some simple basics that might help some reduce costs and also provide some level of security in the decision making for purchase.
I won't go into the issues of buying at distance or putting your trust in friends, friends of friends, or anyone else.

For what it's worth here is my input:-

- Unless you are a citizen of Phils there is no legal way to own, or control ownership of land.
Everthing must be in the name of your wife.

- First step I would suggest is to understand the workings of a clean title for the land.
In my opinion you must verify the title. If you feel confident to do it yourself then I would say it's probably your best bet. Otherwise you really are going to be in the hands of a local lawyer.
Never ever use the services of the sellers friends or lawyer.

- Go to the local assessors Office with the description of the property and property number.
From there you can get the title number.
Go to Register Of Deeds (ROD) and get a copy of the true title.
Now you know WHO and HOW MANY title holders there are, and also if the property is mortgaged and by whom.
Never ever use the services of the sellers friends or lawyer.

- Make sure the seller is the actual OWNER
Never trust the seller, seller's friends or lawyer.

- Be aware of any unpaid taxes (both buyers and sellers)

- Do not under any circumstances accept any declaration from a lawyer telling you about the rights to a plot of land when actually all you may have is a statement from the previous owner(s) that they waived their rights to the land and signed it over to your partner.

- Don't expect or believe that these things will always be quick or easy, be aware do your homework and roll with the punches.

- Worth repeating is never, ever engage or trust the services of a sellers friend or lawyer.Period.

- Regarding transfer of funds, there are a number of ways. I would suggest bank-to-bank, but be sure you understand all the fees and charges etc.

- Be sure to secure a notarised Deed of Absolute Sale.

These next steps might now be outdated, but at least it's food for thought and more things to understand
I know the lawyer (or real estate agent) will do all this stuff for you, but it's handy to know what's going on and what documents are needed/involved:-

- Get an Affidavit of No Improvement if there is no house on the property.
(You'll need the Tax Declaration, Deed of Absolute Sale and a residence certificate.)

- Get an Order of Payment from the Land Tax Division
(You’ll need the Tax Declaration and and Land Tax Receipt).

- Pay the Transfer Tax.
(You’ll need the Deed of Absolute Sale and the Tax Declaration)

- The BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) will need payment of Documentary Stamps and Expanded Withholding Tax (EWT).
(You'll need original and a photocopy of the Title, Affidavit of No Improvement, Certificate of No Improvement, Tax Declaration, Tax Receipt.)

- Get Registration of Title from the Register of Deeds (ROD)
(You'll need The Title, Deed of Absolute Sale, Stamp receipts, Expanded Withholding Tax (EWT) Receipt, Tax Clearance, Transfer Tax, Tax Declaration

- Get a new copy of Tax Declaration of the lot (or house and lot) under the buyer’s name.
(You'll need The new Title, Deed of Absolute Sale, Transfrer tax, Tax declaration, Tax receipt, Tax clearance.

That seems to be all the notes I had scribbled down anyway. Maybe I should have made my notes a bit neater.

Hope it gives some helpful insights

Other more experienced than me will hopefully add their knowledge and correct any mistakes.

It might be an idea to record your experiences just in case you buy more in the future

Did I mention never to use the services of the sellers friends or lawyer

[jake]

Terpe (Peter) some very good advice.

We have bought and sold land a number of times over the past 17 years and have never used a lawyer.

The most important thing is to make sure the actual sellers are the owners of the property. The names on the title should match exactly with the sellers ID.

You then go to the local Municipal and check with the registry of deeds that the title is a true copy. On the back of the title it will show if the land has been loaned to a bank or lending company.

There is a good chance that the owner will be behind with tax payments on the land. Ask to see the tax declaration to see if the owner has paid. Even if they haven't it usually isn't that much and they will tell you how much is due.

The transfer tax and registration fee should be around 0.5% of the actual land price. The land is usually under valued so again this shouldn't be much.

If you have any questions I will be happy to answer them if I can.

[jake]

Another important factor i forgot to mention was make sure there is nobody living on the land when you purchase. DO NOT make an agreement with anybody living there that they will leave when you are ready to do something with the land.

If you give them that option they could get free legal consul and carry on living there for years to come. When eventually the matter is settled you could end up paying them to leave!

[SimonH]

Many thanks both Terpe and Jake, some great advice there.

The main reason for posting the original question was to see if anyone could recommend a lawyer because as Terpe pointed out the last thing I want to do is trust the friend of the seller. I do have scanned copies of "declaration of real property" and "land tax verification slip" going back to 1974, but I would not have known about looking on the back of the title, thank you Jake.

Is there usually some sort of map to show the boundaries of the property? I have 2 declarations of real property, the first states 2 hectares of un-irrigated R/L and 3 hectares of upland R/L. The second states 1 hectare coconut land and 2 hectares upland R/L. However, there is no map to say where the properties are or if they're connected so I could be looking at one plot and buying 2 different plots no where near where I thought I was buying.

Also, how would I go about finding out what (if any) restrictions there are about building on the land.

Thanks again

[jake]

Sorry I cannot recommend a lawyer as you need to find one that lives in the area you plan to buy the land. I was wrong when I said we have never used a lawyer as we do when it comes to the deeds of sale. One piece of advice that you probably already know is don't pay them in full until the whole process is complete.

You can get a map of the property and boundaries at the nearest Municipal Hall. It will be very basic and more than likely hand drawn.

The restrictions and rules vary in each province. If you plan to build only a house there should be no problem having it approved.

[Terpe]

Simon, just a quickie for the moment.

Be careful with coconut land. I can only speak from my experience in Mindanao, but often there are many restrictions and you may find you need a special permit to allow cutting any down. The good news is that you make make a little money from coconut. I don't know how it works in Palawan.

Concerning a map showing property boundaries, you must be sure that what's described to you verbally and what's shown on the title is actually the land that you're buying.
You should have a survey plan. If not there's a number of things you can do.(as well as asking the seller to provide one)

From our experience we always visited the Tax Mapping Office. They are a great help and have lots of documentation for determining the property details and boundaries.
They normally have all boundaries of all land parcels and also have information on ownership identity.

If eventually it's really not clear to you or you have doubts you should seriously consider to engage the services of a surveyor (or even a Geodetic Engineer). The surveyor can organise to properly mark out the boundaries of the property for you.
Most people then put up some sort of fencing around.

Also, if the property doesn't have frontage to a public road, just make sure you have satisfactory access/right of way.

How about access to water? How is that organised?

There's a lot of stuff to think about depending on what you want from the land.
Even consideration to landline telephone access, internet access, electrical supply, water supply etc can all become important if you're planning to build a house.

Step by step.
It sounds a lot when you write these things, but actually it has always worked out fine for us. Maybe we were just lucky.

I've heard some real horror stories, but usually they came down to sloppy work by the purchaser.

To be honest, we've never gone through the process at distance (being in UK), usually all key steps taken when we were actually 'on-site'

[SimonH]

Thanks again both, looks like I'm going to have to make another trip in the near future.

As far as electricity, water and access are concerned, that's easy........there isn't any!

The only access at the moment is by boat. I stayed at the villa just down the beach from this land and that was equipped with solar power and a generator, plus a bore hole for fresh water. There are plans in place for a road to the rear of the plot, but as with all things there it will happen eventually, so when I'm told 3 years I'll take that as roughly 12. There are also rumours of an international airport being opened at San Vicente, but after some research it would appear to be more like a small domestic airport scheduled initially to open next year, so again 5 years' time maybe.

[SimonH]

IMG_0694.jpg
IMG_0776.jpg

Couple of pics of the area I'm looking at

[fred]

Looks pretty idyllic to me.. Pretty brave of you to look at such an isolated spot.. What do you have in mind? Resort?

Our beaches here do not have enough fresh water to go round either..The difference is we can have it delivered..

There is a new hotel here called Bellevue in Doljo, Panglao..About 250 rooms.. They have built a desalination plant to provide for their water needs.. Imagine the power needed to run that!!

I`d be interested to hear what your plans are..
I'm also a bit surprised to hear that your new lot to be is titled..

Lots like that are normally tax declaration land.

If you dont mind..A rough idea on price per sqr mtr??

Is the lot directly connected to the salvage zone?? (Beach lot)

[SimonH]

Hi Fred, I was planning on having a holiday home built with the view of retiring there in a few years, maybe renting it out some of the time to recoup some of the costs.

Not sure what tax declaration land is, but will look into it. All I've seen are the "declaration of real property" and the "land tax verification" forms.

[jake]

Tax declaration filipino style . This does not mean that the owner owns the land outright but in most cases it does. The vast majority of land in the Philippines has no title as no one will ever question the ownership of the land.

As I have said before, it can vary from region to region. For example, we have bought and sold land in our area with only the deeds of sale.

Is the land in the pictures the actual lot you are going to buy?

[SimonH]

Hi Jake, yes the land I'm looking at the upper part of the first picture (if that makes sense). Basically it's about 300 meters of beach covering about 1 hectare of fairly flat land with coconut trees, then a further 2 hectares of hill behind that flat area with waterfalls. The other 5 hectares are on the other side of the hill and is currently a rice field.

[jake]

Simon, spectacular piece of land

Terpe and Fred have made some very good points

Most people dream of owning land next to a nice beach in the Philippines but do not do the proper research before buying. You may be able to purchase the land at quite a low price because the local's know the problems you might encounter in the future!

Setting aside the buying of the land there are a lot of other things you must take into consideration. Some have already been covered by others members but i will repeat them as they are very important.

Access to the property is probably the most important as you if you plan to build one day the materials will have to be delivered. Theoretically you could do this by sea but the costs would be high and the tide is not always accommodating. You may also be obliged to give any neighbors right of way through your land so you cant fence of the area. You do not want to upset the locals!

Water, this may mean you digging your own well at considerable cost and then finding out there is no water or it dries up after a certain time.

Your neighbors could in theory build anything next to your land in the future that you don't like.

Electricity, phone signal, internet signal are just a few of the problems you may encounter.

I am not trying to put you off but the more i think about it you maybe need to spend some more time there before you make your final decision.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

[johndavidc]

Simon,

For what it's worth I know nothing about what you've asked but I wish you well. It looks a complete minefield! Good luck and keep us posted how it goes.

Regards,
John

[milesaway1113]

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