Q. Good day Atty. Wong,
I have a brother-in- law. a Canadian citizen, who has properties po dito sa Pilipinas at sa isa sa kanyang property ay may pinatira siya na relative namin. they have been staying there for free for almost 17 years.
Ngayon po last year he decided to sell the said property. So he informed them of his decision to sell. The problem is ayaw po nilang umalis at kung aalis man sila, they should be given daw a certain amount of money. Nasa batas po ba yon?
Ngayon, ang na isip ng brother -in-law ko is to transfer the ownership of all his properties to me. So that I can have all the legal rights as the new owner. Can you advice us how to go about it and please also provide information regarding taxes and legal fees that we have pay (all property taxes are paid regularly).
By the way atty, can my brother-in-law execute a transfer of ownership at Philippine Consulate General in Toronto since all legal documents to be used in the Philippines should be authenticated (red ribbon) there. Or can we ask a private lawyer in Canada/Philippines to prepare the document and just bring it to the Consulate for notarization? Thank you and hope to hear from you. Susan
Ans: Hello Ms. Susan. As to your first question a person or even a relative who stayed in the property by mere tolerance of the owner, has no right to demand compensation from the owner should they be evicted from the property. Unless of course, that there was such agreement between them. On the contrary, the property owner has every right to demand compensation or rent from the occupants, unless, there was a clear agreement that the occupant will not pay any rent.
As to the question of transferring the ownership the said property to you, yes you have all the right as the registered owner-transferee to exercise the attributes of ownership including the right to use, administer or dispose the property. Under this arrangement, if you are just acting as trustee of your brother-in-law over the subject property, it is best that an agreement between you and him be executed for your mutual interest and protection in the future.
Kindly note that the transfer of the ownership under your name could be by means of a Deed of Sale or as donation . You may use a private lawyer in Canada for the required documentation. Just be sure that the lawyer is familiar with the prescribed formalities of the Deed of Sale, Deed of Donation or such other form of conveyances and legal documents for the purpose , so that there will be no complication or unexpected issues when the said documents will be used in the Philippines ; and provided further that the same be notarized and acknowledged by the Philippine Consulate in Canada and affixed it with the red ribbon and the seal of the Philippine Consulate.
Note further that the transfer of the property in your name entails that the payment of certain taxes, such as but not limited to Capital Gains tax at the rate of 6%, documentary stamp tax at 1.5%, of the market value or price or zonal valuation of the property which ever is higher, plus the payment of transfer fees at the rate of ½ of 1% of the gross selling price; and such other incidental fees prescribed by the appropriate government agencies. The taxes and fees issues could be substantial. Check this out with your brother in-law.
If the purpose in transferring the property to you is just to get rid of the occupant(s), why not just initiate an eviction suit against the them? This can be done by your brother-in-law even without setting foot in the Philippines. All he has to do is to executed a Special Power of Attorney(SPA) notarized and also acknowledged by the Philippine Consulate in Canada and in the said document , designating someone in the Philippines as his agent or representative to file and initiate the necessary eviction suit for and on his behalf and to perform or do such other incidental acts in order to protect his right and interest of his property as the lawful and registered owner.
Looking forward you’ll find the above in order and thank you for a being part of the “ Batas Pinoy Global Community”.
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