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Land Dispute with the Local Government

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1Land Dispute with the Local Government Empty Land Dispute with the Local Government Wed Mar 22, 2017 12:16 pm

James2005


Arresto Menor

39 years na pong nakatayo ang bahay namin sa tabi na Public Elementary School ng Barangay namin. Ang bahay po namin ay nakadikit sa pader ng School. Few days ago ipinasukat/survey po ng Brgy Captain namin ang lupa ng Eskwelahan para daw po magpatayo ng mga bagong school buildings. To make the long Story short, sabi ng Kapitan namin ay half of our house occupied the schools property at binibigyan nya kami ng 6 months para tapyasin ang concrete house 2 story house namin at kung hindi daw ay sila magtitibag ng bahay namin. Ano po ang laban namin dito? Wala po kaming titulo. Deed of sale lamang po.

mrs_scofield


Prision Correccional

The Brgy. Captain cannot just demolish your house. There must be a court order before any demolition can be done. He has no power to demolish outright your house based on his own survey. You need to reply on the demand stating that there was no encroachment and stand on your ground.  

By the way, when you built your house did you apply for a building permit? When you bought the lot, was it titled?

The Brgy. Captain has no authority to issue an order of demolition especially when there is no court order to that effect. If the Brgy Captain proceeds with the demolition, you can file an adminsitrative complaint for grave misconduct and oppression before the Office of the Ombudsman.

Assuming that the surveyor was right and you have in fact encroached on the barangay's property, do not worry there is what you call in law a builder in good faith. When a person builds in good faith on the land of another, Article 448 of the Civil Code governs. Said article provides:

ART. 448.  The owner of the land on which anything has been built, sown or planted in good faith, shall have the right to appropriate as his own the works, sowing or planting, after payment of the indemnity provided for in Articles 546 and 548, or to oblige the one who built or planted to pay the price of the land, and the one who sowed, the proper rent.  However, the builder or planter cannot be obliged to buy the land if its value is considerably more than that of the building or trees.  In such case, he shall pay reasonable rent, if the owner of the land does not choose to appropriate the building or trees after proper indemnity.  The parties shall agree upon the terms of the lease and in case of disagreement, the court shall fix the terms thereof.

Moreover, you also have the right to be indemnified for the necessary and useful expenses you may have made on the subject property. Articles 546 and 548 of the Civil Code provide:

ART. 546. Necessary expenses shall be refunded to every possessor; but only the possessor in good faith may retain the thing until he has been reimbursed therefor.

Useful expenses shall be refunded only to the possessor in good faith with the same right of retention, the person who has defeated him in the possession having the option of refunding the amount of the expenses or of paying the increase in value which the thing may have acquired by reason thereof.

ART. 548. Expenses for pure luxury or mere pleasure shall not be refunded to the possessor in good faith; but he may remove the ornaments with which he has embellished the principal thing if it suffers no injury thereby, and if his successor in the possession does not prefer to refund the amount expended.

Seek the assistance of a lawyer in preparing your reply letter and in anticipation of a court case to properly protect your property.

Good luck and God Bless!

James2005


Arresto Menor

Sir, THANK YOU for that information! It helped alot! And the answer to your question is No, we dont have Building Permit and No, we dont have Title, we only have deed of sale from my late Grand Mother who purchased it from her relative during the 1940's. Also, there are several residents sorrounding the school who are in the same situation as us. My next question is, if we do not have building permit and land title, will that change anything? And can you please give me a recommendation or your contact info in any case I would have to hire a lawyer? Please advise. Thank you again!

mrs_scofield


Prision Correccional

Does the property when it was bought from your grandma's relative had a title? Or was the property untitled since time immemorial?

Does your Deed of Absolute Sale contains the technical description of the land? When did you build your house?

James2005


Arresto Menor

I dont think the land has title at all. I think the deed has technical description. Our house was built around 1978 but was renovated on 1999 (no building permit).

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