Checking Land Before You Buy It

Check the Title at the Registry of Deeds

Start by getting your own copy of the land title from the government. Ask the seller for the title number and the Registry of Deeds where it is registered. Then get a Certified True Copy (an official copy of the Registry's record) yourself.

• Go to that Registry of Deeds with a request form, a photocopy of the title and your ID, or
• Request it online through the Land Registration Authority's eSerbisyo portal, which delivers anywhere in the Philippines. You give the Registry, the title type (OCT, TCT or CCT, the kinds of land title) and the title number.

Compare the certified copy with the Owner's Duplicate (the owner's own copy) the seller shows you: owner's name, title number, technical description (the measurements of the boundaries), area and lot number. Any difference is a red flag. If the Registry cannot find the title, or it shows another owner, stop.

Read the Notes on the Back of the Title

The back pages of the title (the "memorandum of encumbrances") list every note (annotation) recorded against the land, such as loans and claims. Look for:

• Real Estate Mortgage. The land is security for a loan. The loan must be released, and the release noted on the title, before or at the sale.
• Notice of lis pendens. There is a pending court case over the land.
• Adverse claim. Someone claims a right over the land.
• Levy or attachment. A court or the government has taken hold of the land for a debt.
• Rule 74 annotation. The land came from an Extrajudicial Settlement (an agreement among heirs, signed before a notary) and, for two years, can still be claimed by heirs who were left out or by people the dead owner owed money. See settling an estate.
• Lease, easement (a right of others to pass through or use part of the land) or restrictions. These may stay with the land after you buy it.
• CARP or free patent restrictions. Land from agrarian reform (CARP) or some free grants of public land cannot be sold for a period, or only with DAR approval.

Check the Seller

• Identity. The seller's name must match the title exactly. Check their government IDs in person.
• Civil status. If the seller is married, land acquired during the marriage is usually owned with the spouse. Under the Family Code (Articles 96 and 124), selling it without the other spouse's written consent is void (has no legal effect). Have the spouse sign the deed. Ask for a PSA Marriage Certificate, or a CENOMAR if they say they are single.
• Owner has died. If the owner on the title is dead, only the heirs can sell, after they settle the estate (divide what the owner left).
• Representative. If someone sells for the owner, ask for a notarized Special Power of Attorney (SPA, a document letting someone act for the owner) that names this property, and check with the owner directly that it has not been cancelled. See the SPA to sell property.
• Company. If a corporation sells, ask for a Board Resolution and Secretary's Certificate showing the company approved the sale.

Check the Taxes

• Get a certified copy of the Tax Declaration (the city or town's tax record for the land) from the assessor. The owner, lot and area should match the title.
• Ask the treasurer for a Real Property Tax Clearance. Unpaid amilyar (yearly land tax) stays with the land, and the Registry of Deeds needs the clearance for the transfer anyway. See real property tax.
• Agree in writing who pays any back taxes before you pay the price.

Check the Ground

• Visit the land. Talk to neighbors and the barangay. Ask whether anyone else lives on, farms or claims the land.
• Relocation survey. Hire a licensed geodetic engineer (land surveyor) to find the corners using the measurements on the title. This shows whether the land you see is the land on the title, and whether a building or fence crosses the boundary.
• Zoning. Ask the city or municipal zoning office (or planning and development office) what the land is zoned for (homes, business, farming and so on), if you plan to build or use the land for business.
• Agricultural land. If the land is agricultural, ask the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) whether it is covered by agrarian reform or has farm tenants. The Registry needs a DAR Clearance to transfer CARP-covered land.
• Access. Check that there is a road or path you have the right to use to reach the land (a right of way).

Before You Pay

Do not pay the full price based only on a photocopy. Safe habits:

• Pay by bank transfer or manager's check, not cash, so there is a record.
• Get an Acknowledgment Receipt for any reservation or down payment, stating what it is for.
• Sign a Deed of Absolute Sale before a notary when the full price is paid, and take the Owner's Duplicate Title at the same time.
• Start the transfer right away. See transferring a land title.

For land with a complicated history, such as untitled land, land with a court case, or several heirs, talk to a lawyer before you pay.