⌛ Married an buying property.

HERE IS THE IDEAL SETUP THAT PROTECTS THE INTEREST OF FOREIGN BUYERS/INVESTORS OF REAL ESTATE PROPERTIES:

This setup involves a combination of lease agreement thru a Filipino trustee and the execution of a Special Power of Attorney in favor of the foreigner-buyer.

1. The property shall be placed under the name of a Filipino trustee or in most cases, the Filipino wife. However, it will be the foreigner-buyer who shall have the actual possession of the owner's copy of the certificate of title. In this process, the exchange of money for the price shall be exclusive only between the foreigner-buyer and the seller, and does not have to go thru the Filipino trustee.

2. The foreigner-buyer and the Filipino trustee (to whom the property is named) shall execute a long term lease contract, for say 50 years, in which the foreigner-buyer shall be the lessee and the Filipino trustee as the lessor. The lease contract shall be noncancellable without restrictions as to its use. Further, the lease contract shall carry with it the option to buy at negligble price when the lease term ends.

3. The Filipino trustee shall execute a Special Power of Attorney (SPA) authorizing the foreigner-buyer to sell the property whenever the latter wants to. The SPA shall be indefinite and without restrictions as to the manner of payment, price and others. It will give the foreigner-buyer sole authority and discretion to dispose of the property whenever he/she wants to and to sign all papers and documents in that regard.

The above setup provides several advantages and protection to the foreigner-buyer without violating the constitutional prohibitions on land ownership. This setup provides the foreigner-buyer free use of the property without restrictions as covered by the long term lease agreement. And most importantly, this provides the foreigner-buyer the sole authority to dispose of the property whenever he wants to because of the SPA that was issued to him.


Cheers,

Ron

 

If copying from another website, please name the source:
PhilCebu Properties - Real Estate Laws

 

This has popped up on other forums a while back. Someone came up with a test case before the Supreme Court with a judgement against the foreigner for attempting to circumvent the laws against foreign ownership - and full property ownership was reverted back to the estranged wife. Maybe one of our resident sea lawyers can find it on the web somewhere. Good try though....

 

Please Police..... what diffeence does it makes, as long as it is correct;
Don't you have any other things to do than being an DI Police???
I am waiting for you to write something of value ....instead of policing.
If you are a dedicated police on DI let all of us know...Thanks.

Cheers,
Ron

 

it has nothing to do with DI police it is simply copyright-violation and you agreed to stick to rules when signing up.

If you can't do so please do not post. thank you.

The value of firefly's posts is reflected by his reputation.

cheers

Rhoody

 

Thank you!

Cheers,
Ron

 

The leaseback is not secure by any means. Realtors and attorneys only write articles and postings like that so that they can sucker foreigners into the leasebacks and theycan get some free property if he dies.

In my opinion, you really have two options:

Buy the property in your wife's name and roll the dice.. why did you marry her if you don't trust her? How can you ever have a fulfilling relationship if you have an underlying feeling that she is waiting to steal "your" property from you?

OR

Form a household corporation and have the corporation own the property. We are using this scenario, not out of lack of trust between us, but because of the laws of succesion in The Philippines.

We have a "blended" family with one son from another relationship on her side and if one or both of us should die then we will not have a say how our property is divided. If we leave it to the courts to interpret the law, somebody is going to get screwed out of what is rightfully theirs. While the odds are the man (if he is older) will pass on first, if she were to die first, I would have to sell the property because I cannot own property.

With the corporation, we each own shares in the corporation and the kids have proxies so they all own their fair share NOW, not later. There is no need for litigation, not even a will except how to disperse shares of someone if they die.

Let me reitterate, this is not for lack of trust on my part or her part, it is all just to make things simple because the laws on the books are not simple

The bottom line is if you do not trust someone do not get involved to the point where you stay up at night trying to figure out how to avoid getting screwed over by her.

 

The only thing this will do is give you false piece of mind. It will never stand up. There are several obvious flaws.

1. Does the title never get changed from the seller's name? If it does, then the name of the person on the title has the right to collect it. This means only the trustee can say WHO gets the title. Furthermore, the trustee can apply for a replacement title.

2. If the trustee is your wife, you cannot have ANY contract with her other than the marriage contract unless you were wise enough to have complete separation of property written into the marriage settlements PRIOR to the marriage. Maximum lease to a foreigner is 25 years, extendable for another 25 years upon both parties agreeing to extend the lease. A foreigner cannot have an option to buy at the end of a lease of something he cannot legally own.

3. A special power of attorney does not give the owner's rights away, it simply adds someone who can sign for the sale. It can be revoked at any time by the owner, and will not override the owner's rights.

The above setup does not provide ANY protection to the foreigner. Foreigners have been trying to circumvent the property laws here since the 1935 constitution, and EVERY loophole has been long closed. Yet every day someone comes up with a "new plan" that some lawyer will happily draw up for them to circumvent the law.

NONE of them will hold up in a court of law, and would fail at the supreme court level if someone bribed a Judge to get a positive ruling.

Larry

 

Why make it easy if you can make it difficult.
If you, as a foreigner, like to buy a property but are afraid about what the future will give, any bank in the Philippines can help you out.
No hocus pocus, no breaking the law, just simple fair economics.
Just buy the property of your choice in name of your wife and get it mortgaged in the bank.
The capital of the mortgage is invested again in the same bank -in your name-and you only will pay the difference in interest from what you receive and what you have to pay.
Since this is a zero operation for the bank you can negotiate a very good deal.
You also can add to the contract that the mortgage-capital will go to your wife in case you will die first.
The tittle remains in the bank as it is mortgaged and your wife or the family can not sell a property without tittle.
Just ask the bank of your choice and they can inform you about this very safe and legal deal.
Just have to know that your wife must be willing to participate, but if she don’t, a little bell may be ringing.

 

Very interesting posts. One statement that I found very provocative is what happens if the wife dies first. I never thought of that or covered it, given my wife is a "couple" years young than me.