Hi there New to the forum, I hope everyone is well. I apologise if this is in the wrong section of the forums, please let me know if I need to change this in any way! My mother is from Leyte and moved to the UK in the 1970's, and our family has owned land in Belen for over 100 years there. She's now interested in selling the land, but as we're both living in the UK we have little experience in how to do this, who to talk to or where to even begin! Currently the land is lived on by the farmers who work the coconut farms, and the crop yield is then used to pay the rent for the land. This has been the agreement for decades. Also over the years people have slowly taken over parts of the land and encroached upon the boundaries, meaning that there's illegal building that's taken place. So a few questions! How do we begin to approach this? How do we ensure the rights of the farmers currently on the land and make sure that they're looked after when the land is sold? What is our responsibility to them to ensure they're looked after? Who would we speak to about getting the boundary surveyed? Once that is done, what would we do about the illegal building on the land? If anyone can recommend what to do next it would be greatly appreciated! My mother is getting on in years and we'd like to have this dealt with so she can relax and not have to worry about this in her twilight years. Thank you Like
Does your mother have the land titled? if not that could be a problem. First she will need to be over there or a close relative to talk to a lawyer. How big is the land?
Problems......... It may prove to be more expensive than the land is actually worth. https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=squatters+rights+in+philippines
Some of the responses you got on the link to expat are quite good. The point about property taxes is important, this is a bit like a council tax due from property and land owners but it often just accrues. I would also ask if your mother (given her length of time in the UK) has relinquished her Filipino citizenship or undergone the reacquisition process as I think there are restrictions applied to the amounts of property and land that can be owned by Balikbayans, if she is a full citizen these restrictions will not apply to her. You are going to require a trusted agent on the ground in the Philippines to have any chance of dealing with this issue it will be a headache, but good luck I hope you get it resolved.
Is that former Filipino citizens or people with dual nationality? I get the feeling the opening poster is talking about a lot more. It's a shame Knightstrike is not posting often these days as his family sold off substantial amounts of land when he was a young man.
Former Filipinos, dual citizens can own the same as Filipinos living in the Philippines. But that's buying land! The lady already owns the land before she come to live in the UK. Natural-born Filipino who acquired foreign citizenship can still ...
Agreed that news article does seem to support the distinction between right to purchase and existing ownership.
