Jaderune Pen Pals

Foreigners can not legally own land in the Philippines. I have heard that foreigners might be able to legally lease land for 25-50 years. Does anyone know about this?

I am interested in building a beach house on on a small island. Possibly build a house on leased land?

BigBlastGuy wrote:Foreigners can not legally own land in the Philippines. I have heard that foreigners might be able to legally lease land for 25-50 years. Does anyone know about this?

I am interested in building a beach house on on a small island. Possibly build a house on leased land?

Yes you can lease a piece of land in the Phils. just make it long term lease. And yes you can build a house on leased land too. So you be protected make sure all conditions you want be stipulated on the contract. Good luck on that sounds like great plan.

Yes, you can lease land, and build a house on it. When the lease expires, then the land owner will also own the house.

You are right about not being able to own land. You can indeed lease it. You can buy a condo in a development where the majority of the condos are owned by Philippinos. You can buy land with a pinoy partner(what could possibly go wrong there )Or if you are married to a local you could register it in her name.
You do have options

My brother-in-law who died a few days ago, bought property, developed it, built on it, made a beautiful place out of it, and it was all in his filipina wife's name, and now she owns it. He said that he had made her a very rich woman, and he had the meanse to do that and he loved her so much that he was happy to do that. My friend did the same on a much smaller scale with it in her name. It is kind of scary there because they have a new house on the property, and the ownership title to that property is not cleared up completely yet. My nephew just simply built a house next to his filipino father-in-law's house, on their property.

There are two long term lease properties near here. One is land that belongs to the US Forest Service, and people got long term leases, 50 or 100 years, and built on that property with the idea of renewing that lease. Also there is an Native American family that has a lot of land at Manson on Lake Chelan, and they allowed people to build on their property with long term lease. I think my friend has his house on a similar leased land by Conconully Lake, and he was telling me that whoever owns that property has been raising the lease price until it is unreasonable.

red wrote:

BigBlastGuy wrote:Foreigners can not legally own land in the Philippines. I have heard that foreigners might be able to legally lease land for 25-50 years. Does anyone know about this?

I am interested in building a beach house on on a small island. Possibly build a house on leased land?

Yes you can lease a piece of land in the Phils. just make it long term lease. And yes you can build a house on leased land too. So you be protected make sure all conditions you want be stipulated on the contract. Good luck on that sounds like great plan.

I am not married, possibly I could lease land and build a house and as part of the lease contract stipulate that if I were to marry a filipino citizen, she would have option to purchase the land for a predetermined price. So if I married a filipina, the lease would give her the right to purchase the land and then someday she would inherit the house from me.

Is that legal? Is that possible?

Land use agreements in the Phils can be subject to challenge, especially when an expat is involved. The cost of owning vs renting is often a lot higher than in the US or Canada. I Have a friend in Marmag (Bukindon) that has a court case that has been dragged out for years even though it should be a clear case of trespass.
You never let us know what your background is,if you have any experience in the RP,or what you want to do once there.
Perhaps as an option, you might consider renting. This would allow you to explore other areas and situations.It would really suck to negotiate a 50 year lease,build a home, and discover the 'Perfect' spot 30miles away.
Don`t be too quick to commit.

I do not know for sure, but I think leasing with the idea of bringing someone, a filipina spouse, in later to purchase the leased property with the house you built might be kind of risky. You might get into a legal mess where the spouse would not be allowed to purchase, and eventually your property and house would be lost to you and your filipina spouse. I think it would be better as Smiley said to rent at first, then find someone, then get married, then after that buy the property in your filipina spouse's name, then build the house, and after that it should be secured in your filipina spouse's name, so that at least you would not lose it to yourself and your wife. Some people I guess are glad to build on someone else's property, have a long term lease, then have it lost to the person who owns the land eventually. I would not want to do that!

jadegil6 wrote:Yes, you can lease land, and build a house on it. When the lease expires, then the land owner will also own the house.

Or stipulate it on the contract that the owner of the land will buy or assume the house. Or minus it from the cost of rent. Or when next lessee comes in make a deal to assume the house.

BigBlastGuy wrote:

red wrote:

BigBlastGuy wrote:Foreigners can not legally own land in the Philippines. I have heard that foreigners might be able to legally lease land for 25-50 years. Does anyone know about this?

I am interested in building a beach house on on a small island. Possibly build a house on leased land?

Yes you can lease a piece of land in the Phils. just make it long term lease. And yes you can build a house on leased land too. So you be protected make sure all conditions you want be stipulated on the contract. Good luck on that sounds like great plan.

I am not married, possibly I could lease land and build a house and as part of the lease contract stipulate that if I were to marry a filipino citizen, she would have option to purchase the land for a predetermined price. So if I married a filipina, the lease would give her the right to purchase the land and then someday she would inherit the house from me.

Is that legal? Is that possible?

Yes sir that is possible and legal. And no she will not only inherit the property but co-owned it. You may either have a pre-nup if you have some conditions about property partition hhmmm but still that will complicate of you being not allowed to own property in Philippines unless you will just appoint your soon to be wife as trustee by SPA (special power of attorney), you shall have the actual possession of the title.