What Property Due Diligence Costs

The number, up front

Our due diligence packages typically start at ₱100,000, quoted as a fixed fee for a defined scope rather than as an hourly meter. Read "typically" as it is written: it is our usual starting point, not a binding quote, and it is not a price we can promise before we know what you are buying. The figure for your property is fixed in writing after the scope call, when we know how many titles are involved, where they sit, who the seller is, and what has already been signed. What we will not do is quote low, start work, and then discover the deal was three titles in two provinces.

What moves the figure

• The number of titles. Each certificate of title is its own examination — its own chain, its own annotations, its own tax position. Subdivided lots and adjoining parcels multiply the work almost one for one.
• Location. A property whose records sit in a registry far from Metro Manila costs more in time and travel than one whose registry is an hour away, and some records offices are simply slower.
• Who the seller is. A developer with a standard title package is the light end. Heirs settling an estate, a corporation, a seller acting through an attorney-in-fact abroad, or a title that has been reconstituted all add verification layers.
• What is being bought. A condominium unit, a house and lot, raw land, agricultural land and a resort property each raise different questions, and the ownership rules are not the same for each.
• How far the deal has gone. A clean look before anything is signed is cheaper than untangling a transaction where money has already moved and documents have already been notarised.

What the package buys

The fee covers the verification work and the deliverable it produces: obtaining the official documents ourselves rather than relying on the seller's copies; examining the title and the chain of transfers behind it; reading every annotation and tracing each to its underlying record; checking the tax position with the treasurer and assessor; verifying the seller's identity, civil status and authority to sell; looking at the property and who is on it; and then delivering the written due diligence report with a clear recommendation, which we walk you through. The red flags page lists what that examination is designed to catch. Transfer taxes and government fees are separate and are paid to the government, not to us — those are mapped on the taxes page.

What it is really being compared against

Foreign buyers usually weigh this fee against the price of the property. The honest comparison is against the downside, and the downside in this area is not hypothetical. In Frenzel v. Catito (G.R. No. 143958, July 11, 2003) an Australian buyer who had paid for four Davao and Quezon City properties out of his own funds recovered neither the properties nor the money, and the Supreme Court dismissed his petition with costs against him. In Beumer v. Amores (G.R. No. 195670, December 3, 2012) a Dutch buyer asked only for half of what he had paid for four Dumaguete lots, waiving the rest, and was still denied entirely. These were not reckless men; they were ordinary buyers who trusted an arrangement someone had assured them was normal. A fixed fee that is a small fraction of a purchase price buys the one thing they did not have — a written answer before the money moved. Mas mura ang mag-ingat kaysa maghabol.

The consultation

Consultations are paid — ₱3,500, consistent with our published legal fees. It is a working session, not a sales call: bring the title copy, the tax declaration, whatever the broker sent you and any document you have already signed, and you will leave with a candid view of the risk and a scope and fee you can accept or decline. If that conversation ends with us telling you not to buy, the consultation has already paid for itself.

Paying from abroad

Most of our property clients are overseas when the work is done. Fees are settled by international bank transfer or card, quoted and paid in pesos, and receipted; we make no promises about exchange rates, and we do not ask for payment in cryptocurrency or through third parties. Documents move by email and courier, the calls are scheduled around your time zone, and a properly drawn special power of attorney usually replaces a flight. Our international clients page sets out how we work with clients abroad.

What the fee does not buy

It does not buy a guarantee. No lawyer can certify that a property will never attract a claim, and anyone who offers you that certainty is selling you something else. What the fee buys is a competent, documented examination and an honest recommendation, delivered while you still have the choice. Sometimes the recommendation is to walk away — and if you have already paid on a deal that is looking wrong, read what to do when the money has already moved, and book a consultation rather than waiting.

Frequently asked questions

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