The Dreaded Property Disputes Begin

[jlobrist]

My wife is currently living in Cavite until next year. We decided to buy 3.2 hectares of land in Bicol while she’s there. We had the land surveyed and she did all the proper checks before purchasing. She is now diligently working on getting the title transferred. 
 

Shortly after making the purchase, we’ve had four different conflicts. 
1. Some people have been taking coconuts. They have also been cutting down trees and making charcoal on the property. They have now been advised to stay off the property. We are currently working on fencing the property to avoid further trespassing. 
2. One neighbor said she had her property surveyed years ago and one of the markers was significantly into our property. Our surveyor showed her how her marker was wrong and didn’t have the correct distance from other markers. Apparently surveys in the Philippines are not an exact science. I believe this issue is resolved. 
3. While running string for the new fence, my wife found another neighbor starting a fence 3 meters into our property, running a long distance. Apparently he is sectioning off his property and selling it. This piece is already sold. The neighbor’s brother says he told him not to sell it because it was certainly over the property line that was just surveyed. He asked my wife to keep it because he can’t afford to pay back the buyer. My wife told him no way. He then threatened her. She has a body guard with her because of issue 4 below. The body guard put him in his place and he backed down. She will continue with our fence there. 
4. This is the big one. Shortly after buying the property, another neighbor fenced off about 1.5 acres saying his late father said that was his property. He  dug up one of the survey markers and threatened my wife. We had to hire a body guard, resurvey the property line, and start building a fence. The barangay captain came out and scolded the neighbor for moving the marker. After the fence builders started and my wife left for town, the neighbor threatened the contractors and started pulling out posts. They had to leave out of fear. The cops won’t do anything because they say it is a civil matter, but they did go and talk to neighbor warning him to leave the fence alone. After police left, the neighbored threatened contractors again and they had to stop. Now my wife and body guard are standing guard while the contractors finish. Who knows what will happen next. 
 

What a mess. Anyone else have experience with something like this? Any suggestions?

[scott h]

37 minutes ago, jlobrist said:

Any suggestions?

Run, do not walk away from this deal. If you have money down already, try and ask for it back, if they wont give it back, chalk it up as a cost of doing business. 

Your post does not mention if or how long you have lived here. BUT!!!! In the ten years I have lived here a week does not go by that their is an article in the paper about a murder over a property dispute.

Your story has so many red flags in it it competes with a 4th of July parade

Good luck

 

[jlobrist]

4 minutes ago, scott h said:

Run, do not walk away from this deal. If you have money down already, try and ask for it back, if they wont give it back, chalk it up as a cost of doing business. 

Too late. Can’t back out now. Paid for in full, taxes and fees paid, and already working on title transfer. All before issues began. 
 

I’m still living in the US until I retire in 10+ years. Wife lives in Cavite, 7 hours from Bicol. She will move back to the US next year after our daughter finishes high school. Wife is currently being protected by a bodyguard until she goes back to Cavite tomorrow.  
 

We will have to sell the property at some point now because I will never be safe going there. Apparently gold was found on property next to us. One of the neighbors just turned down an offer for P25mil compared to our price of P2.9mil. Maybe we can make a profit in the end. I’m not sure what else to do now but to complete the fence, and hope for the best. 

[Old55]

Welcome to the forum Jlobrist. Sorry to hear of your land issues sadly this is a common thing.

 

[scott h]

24 minutes ago, jlobrist said:

We will have to sell the property at some point

Just sell it now. Use a proxy if you have to. Take the money and run . 

[Dave Hounddriver]

2 hours ago, jlobrist said:

Now my wife and body guard are standing guard while the contractors finish.

I have seen that.  It seems common enough.  Property disputes are killers, literally sometimes.

[Joey G]

Yep... been there... done that... still shocked I managed to get my money back in whole... but yeah... cut any losses now... you could end up spending more $$$ in lawyers than you paid for the land.

[BrettGC]

As others have said, if possible, just sell it.  Way too many red flags in regards to safety, not to mention the fact that your neighbours will probably make your life difficult into the future by the looks of it.  

[RBM]

1 hour ago, BrettGC said:

As others have said, if possible, just sell it.  Way too many red flags in regards to safety, not to mention the fact that your neighbours will probably make your life difficult into the future by the looks of it.  

Agree completely, having lived some years in the Provence and having some ideas how the mind set works its a no brainer. Unless your prepared to accept many years of issues, threats and conflict do as posters have advised and get out while your able. 

[Onemore52]

We ran into the same problem in Bicol, all because a relative reckoned we bought the property too cheap.

Because the neighbour kept on moving the boundary markers as happened to you, we arranged for the surveyor to come back together with the Barangay Captain and surveyed the boundary yet again, only this time we dug a 1 metre square hole and filled it with concrete, with the marker in it and once it was set we got them back again to sign off on it. The local police didn’t want anything to do with it either, like you they said it is a civil matter.

We also had our solicitor take them to court for their actions, 3 times we waited at court for them to front, they never did show up.

In the end the main trouble maker died of Covid, not a piece of lead.