Smart Home Buying: Ways to Ensure Your Land Title is Real and Legitimate

“We come and go, but the land will always be here. Those people who love and understand it are the only ones who really own it—for a while.”-Willa Cather

 

There has never been any doubt that home ownership is one of the most significant financial milestones today. In fact, owing to the ever increasing prices of real estate properties, it would be understandable why this is such a big deal and a feat for most people.

Buying real estate in the Philippines is not only a tedious process; it is a lengthy one as well. It involves a series of negotiations (depending on how and when a buyer and the seller can come into agreement), a variety of contracts and on top of that, and a significant sum of money. With all these considered it should be no question that as a potential and prospective homebuyer, you should be a little meticulous and discerning about your potential real estate purchase. After all, nothing can be more infuriating than spending you’re a significant fraction of your life’s savings on a property that does not even have a legitimate title in the first place.

Unfortunately, most prospective homebuyers are rather unaware of what constitutes as an authentic real estate land titled and a genuine deed which makes most Filipino homebuyers susceptible to real estate scams. To protect your interests as well as invest in a legitimate property, it is imperative that you have an idea of what constitutes as a genuine land title before you sign the dotted line of a real estate contract and hand over the money. Through your own diligence and research, you can ensure the authenticity of a title and the safety of your property purchase—regardless of whether this may be a condo unit in Rockwell Katipunan or elsewhere. While it is always best to seek the expertise of a real estate professional in ensuring the veracity of a title, you can always do your own examination by determining whether your land title is real.

Here are some of the common ways to identify an authentic land title:

 

Check the quality of the paper used

With something as significant as a real estate property purchase, you can certainly expect the quality of your paper to be more than just passable. As real estate property titles and forms are exclusively printed by the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas, you can expect the type of judicial form used to contain various security features much like our very own currency. The paper is made out of fifty percent cotton and fifty percent chemical wood pulp with colored fibers. If held up against a light, a Land Registration Association (LRA) watermark should be visible through the paper. In one way or another, the paper would have a texture similar to a bank check. Counterfeit titles typically use paper of inferior quality such as cartolina and the like.

 

Verify authenticity of the “Transfer Certificate of Title” document

To ensure the authenticity of your title, bring it up to the Register of Deeds and ask them to furnish you with a “Certified True Copy. In this regard, you should then request the seller of the property to provide you with a photocopy of the title. The Registry of Deeds will need information such as the owner’s name as well as the title number.

 

Check the Duplicate Certificate and the seal

Ask the seller for a duplicate copy of the title which should contain a marking “Owner’s Duplicate Copy” on the left side of the form. More importantly, look for a seal with no blotting on the lower corner of the form as this will confirm its authenticity. However, note that these features are absent in the original copy.

 

Verify the seller’s identity

Of course, one of the excellent ways to ensure that you do not get scammed is to know who you are dealing with. Remember, any individual can pose as a landowner and convincingly ask like one. Ask for a government issued identification card to check if the person claiming the ownership of said property is truly the registered owner. Bear in mind that if the title indicates that the seller’s parents are actually the registered owners, you need to proceed with caution—particularly if the seller-owner has siblings. It might be that others are ready to sell while there might be some who would refuse. Distance yourself from a potential conflict by allowing them to settle that matter in court first before pitching your offer. Remember, when you are dealing with real estate properties, always deal with the real owner and never with an agent who is an unregistered owner. After you have ensured that your title is genuine, bear in mind that you are not done yet. You would also need to determine whether or not your title is clean which would then be discussed in another article.

 

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