# Land reclassification



## JShannon (Jan 28, 2014)

My Asawa and I are looking for land to build a house on in the near future. Lots of land for sale but most is classified as agricultural. Does anyone have experience in the process to have it changed to residential? 

Thanks


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## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

JShannon said:


> My Asawa and I are looking for land to build a house on in the near future. Lots of land for sale but most is classified as agricultural. Does anyone have experience in the process to have it changed to residential?
> 
> Thanks


If your asawa does the looking (or if you are with her and can't be seen), and if she is the one to talk to the land owner AND any government agency in the process, you will likely not have to worry about changing the way the land can be used. Government can get in the ($$$) way if they know it's a foreigner that is involved..


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

I had heard that there is increasing resistance to reclasifying land from the government due to the increasing lose of agricultural land. Not sure too many take any notice as this is the Philippines.


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## George6020 (Apr 18, 2014)

Agricultural lands are monitored and somewhat controlled by DAR and CARP. My experience in Davao was not good to say the least. The seller is required to complete "tons" of paperwork, names, addresses, occupations, salary of ALL relatives...........grandparents, uncles, aunts, siblings, children. We discovered this when we tried to help the sellers process their documents. All DAR and CARP documents needed witnesses and notarization.........of course FEES.........BEFORE any title transfer can be processed. It was almost 12 months past, and still not processed by DAR/CARP.............This situation, and a few other problems, convinced us to sell our farm in Davao and move to Cebu. I have been told that most, if not all Mindanao is very difficult to process documents through DAR/CARP, but Cebu and Manila area are much easier. 
Granted, this was with me hiding my face, so there wasn't any hanky panky going on.


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## colemanlee (Nov 17, 2014)

Jet Lag said:


> If your asawa does the looking (or if you are with her and can't be seen), and if she is the one to talk to the land owner AND any government agency in the process, you will likely not have to worry about changing the way the land can be used. Government can get in the ($$$) way if they know it's a foreigner that is involved..


My wife and I own at present both farm land and a lot we plan on building a house on....SHE has done all the looking, haggling with the owner, work with the attorney, surveyor, local government etc....most do not even know I exist. So far we have had zero trouble....I am just as sure, I had been in anyway involved, it would have been a night mare. 
BTW the land we have to build a house on is classified farm land, Agricultural if you prefer...as is all the land surrounding us, including the land with houses..
Hope that helps..


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## cvgtpc1 (Jul 28, 2012)

If you're in a remote province is there land classification or would anyone care?

Land classification does determine how much land a Balikbayan like my wife can own so is important from that respect.


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## fmartin_gila (May 15, 2011)

Example as to the foreigner being present - Yesterday we were in downtown Iloilo, she was shopping among the sidewalk vendors for some little clothes for a couple recently Baptized babies of friends. She asked a couple different places for prices which she didn't like so I suggested I stay away for a bit and just walk around looking at things. She found the prices quoted for the same items at about 1/3 to 1/2 the prices she had been quoted for the same items. I noticed the same thing sometime back when looking to buy a vehicle, introduce a foreigner into the equation and it immediately gets more expensive and more complicated. 

Fred


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## George6020 (Apr 18, 2014)

cvgtpc1 said:


> If you're in a remote province is there land classification or would anyone care?
> 
> Land classification does determine how much land a Balikbayan like my wife can own so is important from that respect.


Very good point...........we found some farmland in southern Cebu province.......and was really easy to process........and nobody cared anything about DAR, CARP or any other unnecessary documents.


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## pakawala (Sep 10, 2014)

A couple things to consider before you buy the Agriculture land is Electrical power line availability to connect to and what is the water table like during both dry/rainy season . talk to other farmers in the area. You could ask the owner if you can have a couple of laborers dig a well or drill for water as a condition prior to purchase. I know a guy who built a beautiful ranch type house, had water during rainy season, no water during dry season. He sold at a loss and moved into a rental.


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## JShannon (Jan 28, 2014)

George6020 said:


> Very good point...........we found some farmland in southern Cebu province.......and was really easy to process........and nobody cared anything about DAR, CARP or any other unnecessary documents.


Hi George, When you say it was easy to process do you mean you changed it to residential without problems?


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## George6020 (Apr 18, 2014)

JShannon said:


> Hi George, When you say it was easy to process do you mean you changed it to residential without problems?


YES, easy, no problems............nobody knew about my involvement, my wife's name was on all the documents, barangay capitan and mayor had to sign some documents, attorney notarized everything. 

Just got an update from my wife...........DAR still has documents, and will complete by Jan 15............then all documents will go to Register of Deeds for title transfer.

BUT, even though still taking a while, I don't hear of any scams or bribes involved, just have to be patient with government employees.


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

George6020 said:


> Agricultural lands are monitored and somewhat controlled by DAR and CARP. My experience in Davao was not good to say the least. The seller is required to complete "tons" of paperwork, names, addresses, occupations, salary of ALL relatives...........grandparents, uncles, aunts, siblings, children. We discovered this when we tried to help the sellers process their documents. All DAR and CARP documents needed witnesses and notarization.........of course FEES.........BEFORE any title transfer can be processed. It was almost 12 months past, and still not processed by DAR/CARP.............This situation, and a few other problems, convinced us to sell our farm in Davao and move to Cebu. I have been told that most, if not all Mindanao is very difficult to process documents through DAR/CARP, but Cebu and Manila area are much easier.
> Granted, this was with me hiding my face, so there wasn't any hanky panky going on.


We are having exactly the same problem with some family land we are trying to divide amongst the family who already own it. The problem is that the documents expire and you do them time over. The the atorny is out to take you money and do nothing for it. An uncle had a similar problem who is head of security at Dumaguety airport went along to the CARP office waring his gun, seemed to oil the wheels a bit.


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## George6020 (Apr 18, 2014)

Gary, its hard to believe all the info and documents that DAR/CARP claims to require. When we took all our documents, in Davao, to the local DAR office, the workers had NO IDEA how to complete them or process them. _*<Snip> *_A few months ago, on the news, I heard that there was interest at abolishing DAR............but don't hold your breath.


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## JShannon (Jan 28, 2014)

Just an update. Speaking to our lawyer and the surveyor there is no need to reclassify the land. We are allowed to build on it as it is. Having it changed to residential would mean having to pay higher taxes. They also mentioned that if it was a developer they would have to have it reclassified. 

Getting a survey done is not cheap. We are buying half of an existing lot. First to survey the existing lot was 12,500P, then to survey each of the new lots was 8,500 each. For a total of 29,500P to get it all done. Each lot has to be surveyed separately in order for the existing owner to change the title of their remaining property for the portion they still retain.


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## George6020 (Apr 18, 2014)

JShannon said:


> Just an update. Speaking to our lawyer and the surveyor there is no need to reclassify the land. We are allowed to build on it as it is. Having it changed to residential would mean having to pay higher taxes. They also mentioned that if it was a developer they would have to have it reclassified.
> 
> Getting a survey done is not cheap. We are buying half of an existing lot. First to survey the existing lot was 12,500P, then to survey each of the new lots was 8,500 each. For a total of 29,500P to get it all done. Each lot has to be surveyed separately in order for the existing owner to change the title of their remaining property for the portion they still retain.


Thanks for the update...........it sounds good. Though expensive, those surveys are really important. I guess I will be paying higher taxes next year, since our land will be reclassified next month............oh well, whats new.


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## JShannon (Jan 28, 2014)

I had fully expected to have to re-classify it. No idea how much difference taxes are between the two. That same info coming from the lawyer and surveyor I think should make it reasonably sure.

YMMV depending on your location!!


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