Tips in buying lands in the Philippines

There are no contracts that will make it "safe" for a foriegner from having his/her investments being taken over by Filipino investors. Your natural born citizens would have to reaquire Philippine citizenship, which is not a big issue. They would need to become dual citizens under RA 9225;

Philippines : Gov.Ph : Frequently Asked Questions : Philippines

Probably your best bet would be to form a corporation. You must have 5 stockholders to form a corporation, of which can be a maximum of 40% foriegn owned and 4 stockholders must be Filipino. Just be sure that you do not fall astray of the anti dummy law, PD 715;

P.D. No. 715

There are other options for someone investing a tidy sum, roughly 1 million USD or so. This country is not very foriegner friendly when it comes to laws to protect their investments. Most laws and courts will always favor the Filipino.

Good luck!

Larry

 

suggestion to foreigners owning property in the phils

Hi, I've been reading this thread for quite a while and i have a suggestion for foreigners who wants to own property in the Philippines. I used to be a real estate agent in Manila and had British clients who had Filipina girlfriends.

The property they bought were under the girlfriend's name but at the back of the title there is an annotation or liens indicating that the property is being mortgaged to the boyfriend(foreigner).

In the case that they decide to break up, the annotation states that the property( lot only or house and lot) can be sold and the proceeds will still go back to the foreigner boyfriend.

I know a lawyer in Manila who has been processing this kind of arrangements. I hope this could be of help especially to foreigners who want to own properties in the Philippines. Message me if you want more details.

Reuben

 

Great idea in theory, but it would never get enforced that way in a court of law. As a foriegner cannot own land, they cannot have a valid "lien" against land. The supreme court has ruled this way repeatedly.

A safer method if one has a gf and MUST put it in her name is to get a 25 year lease on the property, extendable for another 25 years, and have THAT annotated on the title. This will not work in the case of a wife, but is legal in the case of a gf.

It would be better, however, to put it in the name of any trusted Filipino who didn't need money.

I can find you a lawyer to draw up any kind of document you want. That does not make it legal, or give you any protection or claims for malpractice against the lawyer when it blows up in your face. Lawyers have no fear of malpractice here as they do in most western countries, and will tell you anything they think you want to hear in order to collect their fee. I had one shady local lawyer tell me, "It's not illegal, Larry, because nobody but you and me will know about it!"

Larry

 

I'm not sure if I read this properly, but what I saw was a property on Tax Declaration status must be in the name of the titler for at least 3 years before a clean title can be applied for.
Someone please correct me if this is wrong info.

 

I would just LOVE to correct you, but according to your own demand, I am not allowed to respond to your posts!



Larry

 

I have contacted an attorney here who specializes in real estate law and he told me that the 3 year law mentioned to me by the real estate agent was false.
Agents tend to downplay the value of tax declaration properties so they can sell higher priced, titled properties.
As long as the are no disputes, law suits, tax liens, etc. buying a tax declaration property is relatively safe and fairly fast to title.
I have found attorneys who quote prices from P20,000 to P70,000 for this service on 1,000 sq.M, but have also found that if one is willing to do all of the leg work and use a city attorney as a notary, you can save a ton of money and the process will normally move faster.
How much faster, I don't know, as I haven't tried it as yet, but I do intend to within the next year.
Anyway, in answer to your question, the people probably rushed out to file for a Torrens Title so they could jack the price of the property up and really, who could blame them?

 

For the record for anyone else interested in this, once a new title is issued, it is an "Original Certificate of Title". (OCT) An OCT cannot be sold, placed on lien, conveyed, transfered, leased, or otherwise encumbered in any way for a period of 5 years from the date of issuance. This is to allow a grace period for anyone to come forth and place a claim on the property. If someone does come forth in that 5 years period with a claim to the property, a long and costly legal battle can ensue.

Once the 5 years are up, the property can then be sold. The new owner will get a TRANSFER Certificate of Title (TCT). One can immediately do any of the foregoing on a TCT.

Larry.

 

I think you're being a bit over critical on the reason for the 5 year wait.
I'm pretty sure that a title issuance takes time and resources, and they want to avoid property "flippers" that would be buying, titling and selling the same property in rapid succession.
If that was to start happening nationwide it would gum up and bog down an already dodgy gov bureaucracy.

And I thing a foreigner can assume sole ownership of a property here if his Pinoy spouse passes away and the forigner asawa was listed on the deed.

Eh

 

Then why would the same 5 year stipulation not be on the TCT, as it is on the OCT? If you ask at the registrar of deeds, they will tell you specifically what I just put forth, that it is to allow time for anyone with a claim to the property to come forth.

Yes, in some cases a foreigner can own land by hereditary succession, along with other family members.

Larry

 

Hi Larry, as always a source of info....tell me please, with regards to a foreigner inheriting a lot and house, which is, currently, the line of succession (without a will) in the hypothetical case where the defunct pinay wife was to have a number of brothers with children but no surviving parents?
Many thanks for any valuable info.
Marco.