⌛ Property Ownership -The sticky Question -

Years ago I bought a titled lot from a woman, along the beach in Cebu, in my wife's name. The foreshore land had been eroded and a survey showed that the lot was legal beach front. We had a well respected attorney for the transaction. We never did anything with the lot until we were approached by another foreigner who wanted to buy it so we sold it. Several years later we got slapped with a law suit (along with threats), by the estranged husband of the woman who sold us the property. It cost us more in legal fees than we made out of the deal.
The point I am making is that in the Philippines buying property is always a roll of the dice. There are plenty of under-employed law graduates similar to the ambulance chasers we have in the states, with nothing better to do than push nuisance law suits on the chance of a big payday.
Get a good lawyer, not the cousin who just graduated, do your due diligence and you have a 50/50 chance of doing OK.
Final piece of unsolicited advice. Don't invest more than you are willing to loose.
Good luck,
Kenny

 

Hi Kenny, thanks for sharing your experience with us all.
I've got some bits and pieces in Dumaguete and surroundings, having bought them well over 10 years ago, but I've must have been darn lucky as I did not have the problems you and others had. Mind you, I always had a reputable attorney for all transactions and apart from a property in Malatapay which is not titled, all others are. I did not realised how insiduous the businness of buying property in the Phils was, but I always had a gut feeling about it!
I guess posting all various experiences, negative and positive, will be a valuable help for those who intend taking steps into this pretty unknown territory! I first created this posting because I was afraid of loosing what I've got, through ill gotten advices and by some, shall we say, sneaky ways, to friends or relatives. It now becames apparent that this problem is much deeper and widespread! I challenge anyone to add his/her experiences on this subject so that newcomers will be more informed and not being taken for a ride as many were. I realised that some may be imbarassed to discuss it with others, but the more we all know and the better it will be !!

 

titled land sometimes but not so common to give problems, how much more those lands who have no proper documents(not titled).Sometimes it takes long that there are people who will come out to desturb your property,some will just wait that you will develop or you put a house just to give more pressure especially if they know already that they have more advantage than you .Government also is one of the problems, especially if you are buying land from people who's land is just a reward from the government so that they can plant it or farm it but in the law they are not allowed to sell,many of this people are just selling this kind of land just to get a quick big money in the end you will suffer the consequences.
I have some acquaintances who have alraedy a big trouble of land buying there in negros, one of it is even a member here.

 

Hello yabs, point taken.......as a foreigner one CANNOT own land or a house in the PI, but only a condo. Even if it was to happen that your name was on a house/land title, only your filipina/o spouse has 100% ownership, meaning that if she/he was to divorce you, you would get NIL, also if you were to survive her/him, and have no children, you would have to sell within a "reasonable" time your home and share all revenue with her/his next of kin. Nice one eh?
I would like though, to learn more about buying real estate and using a Filipino Company to do so. It would require the establishment of a Filipino company in which I would hold only 40% of the issued share capital, the remaining 60% being split between 4 Philippine residents (not necessarily Filipinos, they can be foreigners) who each hold a nototional 15%. These share holders all give me an irrevocable authority to act for them at board meetings, so in effect I control the company which then owns the house. The only questions yet to be answered are if this produces any tax implications.
I would also like to find out more about dual citizenship, or naturalization rather..... I quote what referred about the subject by the Philippine Embassy in UK.....Among FaQ there is one which could be of interest:
Q: My husband is a foreign national. Can I include him in the petition for dual citizenship?

A: No. However, he can apply for a non-quota immigrant visa, which will eventually give him permanent residency in the Philippines. If he wishes to acquire Philippine citizenship, he can later apply for naturalization. By becoming a Filipino citizen one would acquire all the rights which are normally only offered to filipino born such as:

a. right to vote and be elected or appointed to any public office in the Philippines subject to existing Philippine laws,
b. right to acquire land and other properties under his name,
c. right to engage in business in the Philippines and have 100% ownership of the business,
d. right to reside in the Philippine without need of visa, and
e. right to practise profession in the Philippines upon application of a license or permit to engage in such practice

One thing I would like to find out is if one needs to give up any other citizenship once he acquires the filipino, how many years he has to be resident in the Phils before he can apply for it and if it is true that to be a successful applicant one has to be fluent in one of the mainstream languages, such as tagalog or cebuano apart from english or spanish.
Food for thought!

 

Hi yabs, so what you're saying is just rent and nothing more.......
Really a pity, not to mention discriminatory and plain stupid by the Philippine Government to block any foreigner investment. Surely they could at least concede a main residence to "aliens" married to pinay/pinoys. Surely they do not mind when this greedy foreigners remit money to build homes for their spouse and themselves where to retire.

 

Almost forgotten....what about the route of the "Non quota immigration visa" and subsequentially the application for naturalisation?
Any feedback about it in terms of cost, time involved, difficulties (hard time by local officials, ending up having to ping ponging from place to place), having to surrender your original citizenship, speaking the local lingo......