Rent to Own?

You seem to have read the "admittedly not a lawyer"'s blog and missed the response by Attorney Claudette that the blogger acknowledges to be more accurate when she says:

Now half an inheritance is better than nothing but remember that is "up to" and then remember this is Philippines and try to remember any time you got what you were supposed to get "up to". Its very rare.

 

I am still reading the comments section on that page, talk about complicated! Our Land Attorney told us something similar (I do not wish to post publicly) but the Laws here are a mine field at best, and if I outlive my wife. I can legally own our land (by way of inheritance) if my name is also listed, but only until such time as it takes for me to either sell or pass to my daughter... I cannot own it for the long term...

 

There was a project in south Manila or in Cavite offering townhouses with condo titles. They labeled it with foreigners can legally own the townhouse and the lot. But when looking carefully it is more like a right to use the lot where the townhouse is on it. It was the first project using condo titles for townhouses.

Anyway. Condos are for their size completely overpriced. On the other side the construction price per sqm for a condo is lower than of a single house. That means that they have OFW (60/40 rule) and foreigners as market target in view to sell the condos totally overpriced. Rent to own is quite common with condos and townhouses. I guess they want to hide the excessive and hideous/ridiculous prices of these buildings.

About the inheritance. Foreigners can inherits a lot from passed Filipino spouse. But then they are forced to sell the lot in a reasonable time.

 

From all the legal advice I have seen, that is a difficult to impossible prospect. Can you give either a link to one example of it actually happening or the name of one person it actually happened to. With even one precedent I would be more inclined to believe that oft repeated story.

 

You know the issues about finding good and reliable sources in the Philippines.
One source I found noted the thing above with the hint, that they never being able to find a source proofing it.

 

Maybe to put this matter to rest, people should read this article about the subject of how and what a foreigner can (come to) own in terms of real estate in the Philippines. I believe the article has factual information and is not some "infomercial"
PROPERTY OWNERSHIP FOR FOREIGNERS IN PHILIPPINES
The article explains that yes, a foreign spouse of a deceased Filipino citizen can inherit from their deceased spouse, including any real estate that may be part of the marital assets, however, if the deceased leaves any other relatives (such as children, or parents, or siblings, or even nieces/nephews) then the spouse will not inherit all of the estate.
The source for that information in the article is the Filipino Civil law, book III, title IV (about Succession). Article 887 of the law defines the surviving spouse as a compulsory heir.

 

Yep. Reading an article on a real estate sales site is going to put the matter to rest. In my opinion, people should learn their legal rights and obligations from an arms length source, but thats just my opinion. I also would not trust tobacco companies to learn if I could smoke safely

 

Very informative with what appears to be very solid references...

 

Very good article. It even explain the relationship of a foreigner with a Filipino spouse owning a lot and house (when the pair split then the foreigner will lose everything). And it explains also that there are town-/rowhouses with condo titles around even if they are very rare.

 

Some more nice stuff to read from that website. Basic Fair Market Values For Real Estate Morons.