Buying land

[jpbago]

1 hour ago, Jack Peterson said:

 If anyone can Remember "Thomas'

Do you mean Sniper Tom? Quite a guy. We have never met him yet we will never forget him.

[Snowy79]

I've looked down every route possible from renting, leasing etc but it all boils down to personal choice. I couldn't afford the dream house in the UK built to my specifications in an area I wanted. Here I've found as good as I'm going to get. I would feel like a trapped animal in a city. Malls and the growing idea of Western culture is what I want to escape. I've only been in Manila just over two weeks and see so much fakery to last me a long time. Give me a modern house with plenty of glass in a stunning cove and a little boat any day. If I tried to rent the likes I'd be paying about 100,000 php per month unless I moved into a sea side town with it's crowds, noise and tourist prices. If I get five years of this and lose out I'll have had a good five years. There's no pockets in a shroud as they say.

[Dave Hounddriver]

6 minutes ago, Snowy79 said:

Here I've found as good as I'm going to get.

And that is gonna make you happy, until it doesn't.  Thus its what you are gonna do and we all wish you the best of luck.  One thing we can all agree on is that what works for one member does not usually work for all the others too, but many end up extremely happy whatever option they choose.

[earthdome]

11 hours ago, jpbago said:

Do you mean Sniper Tom? Quite a guy. We have never met him yet we will never forget him.

I don't think that is the "Thomas" he is referring to. The Thomas he is referring to was from Sweden, sounded like he had never visited the Philippines, yet from researching on the internet and reading Filipino laws thought he new it all and everything would work "by the book". Of course anyone who has ever lived in the Philippines knows that there are huge grey areas in the laws and blatant disregard for the laws at times. So he had an unrealistic view of the Philippines that he would respond with to others questions misleading people on how things really worked on the ground in the Philippines.

[jpbago]

11 hours ago, earthdome said:

I don't think that is the "Thomas" he is referring to. The Thomas he is referring to was from Sweden, sounded like he had never visited the Philippines, yet from researching on the internet and reading Filipino laws thought he new it all and everything would work "by the book". Of course anyone who has ever lived in the Philippines knows that there are huge grey areas in the laws and blatant disregard for the laws at times. So he had an unrealistic view of the Philippines that he would respond with to others questions misleading people on how things really worked on the ground in the Philippines.

That is the same Sniper Tom. He was to build an ugly house in the middle of nowhere and used to be a sniper but had a bad leg.

[earthdome]

5 minutes ago, jpbago said:

That is the same Sniper Tom. He was to build an ugly house in the middle of nowhere and used to be a sniper but had a bad leg.

Ahh. Ok. Never heard him called that.

[Reboot]

There's a way to own land free and clear as a foreigner. First you perform some incredible act of service on behalf of the nation. Heroic even. Driving the Chinese off one of those islands single handed might qualify. Then get to be best friends forever with Manny Pacquiao and have him help get their congress to recognize you and grant you honorary citizenship. After that, you can buy all the land you like. 

Easy.

Edited February 24, 2017 by Reboot

[Snowy79]

I'm  fresh out of a meeting with a senior lawyer that specialises in land registration and real estate. He agreed it is a bit of a minefield and like most things in the Philippines plenty of twists and turns. Made more difficult as I'm on a tourist visa and my other investor is married to a Filipino.

It's looking like there are special allowances for Hong Kong companies. The basis of it is to establish a Hong Kong company and have a lawyer act as the majority share holder. When you purchase the land you attach a lease to the true registration title. A bit like when people get into debt, they borrow from the bank and tie the title to the bank as a debt. The new registration title will have this lease on page two. The fact that the lease is now on the title means the lease can't be cancelled without the person leasing agreeing and makes selling the company pointless as the land is tied to the lease. There a few more clauses that need drawn up to ensure access rights and restricting the other foreign partner from selling. The lawyer pretty much said we may get an offer we can't refuse and as such should stipulate a figure where no partner can resist.

There are added burdens of reporting to do and taxes but they equate to about $300 per year. You get approx. 3yr to show your company is operating as a company before warning bells start ringing. Employ a maid and maybe caretaker and register them for social security and medical care then the government looks on you as legitimate.

Another point he highlighted was just because the legal title has all the grid references on it marked out by a surveyor doesn't mean it's the lot you were shown. Before parting with any cash ensure you pay another surveyor to remap the lot. Also allow about 20m frontage on the lot for encroachment of roads because if the government decide to improve or widen the road and your house is in the way you'll get a token amount of peso per m2 and your house bull dozed for free.

[robert k]

So, taxes in the Philippines AND HK? Got to be a catch somewhere or many people would be doing it and it would be well known?

[Snowy79]

Only taxes in the Philippines. No escaping that and as it's a company capital gains tax and 3 monthly reporting. It's the reporting that's the pain.