How to know if the Land Title is Authentic in the Philippines

A land is a valuable property that an individual or couple could have, no matter how big or small it is.

That’s why in purchasing a real estate property, you should carefully and distinguish well if the the land title is authentic or not to spare you being a victim from the fraudulent land sellers.

Despite the warnings by the government and the Philippine real state companies against scammers, there are still some Filipinos who fall for fake land titles.

In this article, we’ll tackle about how to avoid falling prey to scam artists and making sure that all our land titles are authentic.

HOW TO SPOT FAKE LAND TITLES

STEP 1:  Ask the seller for the photocopy of the TCT (Transfer Certificate of Title) or the title of the land that you are going to buy.

STEP 2: When you secure a copy, go to the Registry of Deeds where the land is registered and ask for “Certified True Copy” of the title. They will give a form where you can fill up, sometimes they will do it for you, they just need the Title number, the name of the property owner and the purpose why you want a copy, tell them or write into the request form that you want to buy the property.

STEP 3: Wait for your request to be assessed, check the transaction details that they prepare and pay the required processing fees indicated, around three hundred pesos (Php 300).

STEP 4: After paying, return your request paper with the assessment form and payment orders with the receipt to the window that will print for the certified true copy of the title.

STEP 5: Once, you secured a copy, compare the TCT copy that you get from the seller and the one that you get from the Registry of Deeds, all the details should match, including capitalization, punctuation marks, erasures and even typos.

STEP 6: When you check and everything is the same, it means that the title is authentic and you can proceed with the transactions if you want the property.

Meanwhile, there are also ways to check it in just 30 seconds or less.

• Judicial OCT, it should have two signatures present—the Administrator and the Registrar; while for TCT, only the signature of the Registrar is present.
• Papers used for authentic land titles in the Philippines are supplied by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
• The texture should be similar to that of a bank check, and it should have a faint watermark that says “LRA.” If it’s an old title—before the newer e-titles used today—the color of the paper should be light yellow. If it’s an e-title, the color should be pale straw.
• Tiny fibers and dots should be noticeable. And if you could use a UV light, these fibers should shine slightly when subjected to UV light.
• If the land title is an Original Certificate of Title, as indicated by the label “Judicial Form No. 108-D” on top.
• The serial number label (S.N. No.), should be in red color, while the digits should be in black for the owner’s duplicate. The last two digits of the page number on the upper right hand side should correspond to the last two digits of the TCT number.
• For e-titles, all entries should be computer encoded and printed, unlike old versions, which were manually typewritten. The seal on the lower left hand side should be dark red and does not blot when a little water check is done.
• The Judicial OCT, it should have two signatures present—the Administrator and the Registrar; while for TCT, only the signature of the Registrar is present.

All our documents are significant, especially our property investment. That’s why all of us should be meticulous in every detail of the certificates. Buying a land cost a lot of money, so by securing all our transactions is the very first thing we should do.