Tax Declaration land

[Gary D]

FYI. As diligent buyer should know that all beaches in the Philippines are owned by the state. Hence, if you are buying a beachfront house, you also must obtain a Foreshore Lease from the Philippine government, which will allow you, as a lessee, possession and control over the beach, from the high tide mark to the low tide mark. This Foreshore Lease, however, does not allow you to construct a permanent structure anywhere within 30 meters from the high tide mark.

[Snowy79]

7 hours ago, Gary D said:

If there was a certified copy of the title the land wouldn't be sold as Tax Declaration as it would be worth far more.

Correct and the bank probably wouldn't lend on tax declared only as it's too easy to scam. I figured as your friend bought land and property it was titled.

[Snowy79]

1 hour ago, Gary D said:

FYI. As diligent buyer should know that all beaches in the Philippines are owned by the state. Hence, if you are buying a beachfront house, you also must obtain a Foreshore Lease from the Philippine government, which will allow you, as a lessee, possession and control over the beach, from the high tide mark to the low tide mark. This Foreshore Lease, however, does not allow you to construct a permanent structure anywhere within 30 meters from the high tide mark.

It's a thing I discovered when looking for land to buy via a company in Palawan. There the Government own land 50m from the high tide mark (different areas it's 30m). As you say you can't construct a permanent dwelling there. I actually had an agent that took me to a lot that was facing the sea. It was a long thin lot running about 60m along the beach and coming back off of the beach about 30m. The high tide mark ran onto the lot by a good 10m and they were trying to sell it as tax declared. I was well pissed off as we'd drove a good hour to see it and I'd already told him I'd only look at titled land. There was even a Government notice board on the edge of the lot declaring it as a protected area.

[KC813]

On 6/26/2017 at 11:52 PM, Mike J said:

The most common problem is distant relatives that pop out the woodwork after you buy.  Suddenly it turns out the original owner died two generations back and the land actually belongs to a large number of heirs even if only one is on the tax declaration.  

You raise a good point about disputed land owned by multiple heirs.  Often the heirs cannot agree on disposition, or, I think even more common, the family in the house sell the property without telling the missing/overseas siblings!

Several times I have been brought into consultations between the families and their lawyers when property is to be sold without proper notification and consent of all of the heirs.  Each time the lawyer advises to don’t tell the hier, just sell it, and if the omitted brother/sister shows up later, deal with it then. 

Pretty shoddy legal advice by my western standards, but pretty much on par with all of the legal encounters I’ve seen here.

The dysfunctional Philippine legal system is the underlying cause of many the problems in the country, but that’s best for a different thread!

[Clermont]

My wife is the oldest in the family of 5, she has two sisters over seas 2 brothers still living in the Philippines. Being the oldest she controls the sale or not of ancestral land. Most locals know the ins and outs of who owns what and if any member is overseas, talk to locals before letting your wallet do the talking. My wife recently had an issue with one of her sisters trying to sell her share in the property, ( enough to subdivide ) but being the oldest and with her brothers still using the said properties, she said no. Her sister and Weastoner husband are not happy, (her sister being a traditional Filipino), there wasn't a bloody thing they could do, it's the Filipino way. My input was to line him  with a job, still no word from them, ha ha.

[lucy]

hmmm, in our city we occupied the land cos we dont know whose the owner, and now someone sue us, because he claimed that his the owner of the land we occupied, he only has tax declaration, is that valid? should we vacate the said place? thank you

[Dave Hounddriver]

2 minutes ago, lucy said:

someone sue us

If someone sues you then you need a lawyer, and fast.

[lucy]

is his tax declaration is valid? he dont have a title to that land we occupied? thank you so much

[Dave Hounddriver]

2 hours ago, lucy said:

is his tax declaration is valid?

lawyer!

[Ryan.]

I read over 90% of land is not titled. (no immediate source). 

I just think people like hypotheticals. Yes tax declared is far inferior. No argument. But after that common sense. 

Never buy anything you can’t afford to walk away from in the Philippines.

Buy titled. Buy low end. Just rent. Whatever. Due diligence, lawyer review. Tax dec., nothing to fear.  I know lawyers buying tax dec they focus on relatively good paperwork and the knowlege that it is not cheap or a guaranteed success to mount a challenge  to a tax dec property.