Buying real estate in Bacolod City is a major financial decision. If unchecked, you may encounter risks such as deadlocks with heirs, void deed of sale, unpaid amelyar, or troublesome encumbrances. Here are lawyer-guided steps to perform real property due diligence:
Real Estate Lawyer in Bacolod City | Services
- Real Estate Due Diligence before buying property
- Title transfer notarization and processing
- Extrajudicial Settlement of Estate
Title Verification
One of the very first things I advise my clients to do is verify that the property is free of any liens or encumbrances. This means requesting the Certified True Copy (CTC), as this is the legally prescribed way to ensure that the property you are planning to buy is not mortgaged to the bank, is not used as collateral for any creditor, and has no pending cases. Either our law office or their representative goes to the Register of Deeds (ROD). This usually comes on blue paper (while the owner’s copy is printed on yellow paper).
This is a crucial step as the CTC may reveal important truths. Note: Don’t just rely on when the owner or someone shows you the owner’s copy of the title (yellow paper). The best way to exercise due diligence is to request the “government copy” or CTC of the owner’s title. Some of the discoveries you might find: (a) the title is not yet no longer under the name of the owner – it could still be under its original developer or a subsequent seller; (b) the title was used as collateral for a loan; (c) the property has another claimant; (d) the property is under litigation.
See the steps for obtaining the CTC of the Title.
Tax Declaration
A common and costly misconception in Philippine real estate is assuming that once the Registry of Deeds transfers the Land Title into your name, the local government automatically updates its records. It does not. The Tax Declaration (or Declaration of Real Property Value) is the Bacolod City Assessor’s official record of the property for taxation purposes. We frequently encounter buyers holding a clean title, only to discover the property’s Tax Declaration is still stuck under the name of a real estate developer from a decade ago, or a deceased previous owner.
When title ownership and local tax declarations are misaligned, you will face immediate bureaucratic roadblocks if you attempt to apply for building permits, business permits, or try to sell the property in the future. As part of our comprehensive due diligence, our legal team verifies the exact status of the Tax Declaration at the Bacolod City Government Center, ensuring that all local records seamlessly match your legal ownership and identifying exactly what documents are needed to trigger a formal transfer of the declaration.
Read our complete guide on how to secure, update, and transfer a Tax Declaration in Bacolod City here.
Tax Verification / Tax Clearance
A clean title from the Registry of Deeds is only half the battle. In the Philippines, real property tax obligations (known locally as amilyar) attach to the land itself, not to the individual owner. This means that if you purchase a property with years of accumulated unpaid taxes or penalties, you legally inherit those financial liabilities the moment ownership transfers. Furthermore, a glaring loophole many buyers fall into is purchasing a property where the land title has been successfully transferred to the new owner, but the local Tax Declaration remains stuck under an old developer or a deceased relative’s name—creating massive bureaucratic hurdles when attempting to build, sell, or clear local government permits.
Comprehensive tax due diligence ensures that the property is completely clear of delinquencies. Our firm manually cross-references current Land Tax Division records against the City Assessor’s database at the Bacolod New Government Center (NGC) to verify true structural ownership, calculate exact imposable tax rates, and secure a bulletproof Certificate of Non-Delinquency before any contracts are signed.
Another read: Paying real property tax in Bacolod City.