Start from the deliverable
Everything below exists to produce one document: a written due diligence report on the specific property you are about to buy. It sets out what we pulled and from which office, what each document shows, the risks ranked by seriousness, and a plain recommendation — proceed, proceed on stated conditions, or do not proceed. It is addressed to you, in language you can act on without a lawyer beside you, and it is the thing you keep. Advice given on the phone evaporates; a report is what you hand a seller when you ask for a price adjustment, and what your family reads when you are deciding from ten thousand kilometres away.
Step 1 — The scope call
The engagement opens with a paid consultation — ₱3,500, consistent with our published legal fees — held remotely by video or call, which suits clients still abroad. We establish what you are buying and from whom, what has already been signed or paid, your citizenship and civil status, and what you intend to do with the property. Those facts decide the shape of the work: a single condominium unit from a developer, a house and lot from an estate whose heirs live in three countries, and a beach lot from a family with an old title are not the same engagement. You leave the call with the scope written down and a fixed fee quoted against it, not an hourly meter.
Step 2 — The document pull
We then assemble the file, and we obtain the official documents ourselves rather than accepting copies from the seller. That means a certified true copy of the certificate of title from the Register of Deeds that holds the original; the current tax declarations from the assessor for both land and improvements; a real property tax clearance and the payment history from the treasurer; the seller's own documents — identity, civil status, marital consent, corporate authority, or the special power of attorney where someone signs for an absent owner; and the underlying instruments named in the chain, including any deed of extrajudicial settlement, mortgage, or court order. Your part is small: forward what you were given and tell us the truth about what has already been paid.
Step 3 — The verification round
This is the part that cannot be done from a desk. We compare your documents against the registry's own records, read every annotation on the title and chase each one to its source file, confirm the tax position with the local treasurer and assessor, check the technical description and, where the value or the terrain justifies it, recommend a relocation survey by a licensed geodetic engineer. We also look at the property itself and at who is on it — tenants, occupants, caretakers claiming rights, boundaries that do not match the plan. The specific red flags this round is designed to catch are set out on our title red flags page, and the tax exposure is priced using the transaction tax map.
Step 4 — The written report
You receive the report and we walk you through it. Findings are separated into three honest categories: defects that should end the transaction; defects that are curable, with what curing them requires, how long it takes and who should pay; and matters that are merely worth knowing. Where the answer is no, we say no in writing and explain why — that is a successful engagement, not a failed one. We do not guarantee outcomes and we do not certify that a property is risk-free. What the report does is put the risks in front of you, before the money, with a recommendation attached.
Step 5 — Optional deal support
If you go ahead, the same file supports the transaction. That commonly means reviewing or drafting the contract to sell and the deed of absolute sale so that conditions, warranties, tax allocation and remedies are actually written down; structuring the payments so that money is released against verified milestones rather than promises, with the balance held back until the transfer clears; and then seeing the transfer through the tax and registry stages to a new title in the right name. Clients who are abroad usually cover this with a properly drawn special power of attorney rather than a flight.
How long it honestly takes
From the day the documents are with us, a straightforward single-title check commonly runs two to four weeks, depending mostly on the registry. Registries differ: some produce a certified copy the same week, others are slower, and a title needing reconstitution or a records office far from Metro Manila adds real time. Estates, corporate sellers, multiple titles and agricultural land all lengthen it. We would rather quote you a range we can meet than a date we cannot — and if a seller is pressing you to pay before that window closes, that pressure is itself a finding.
What we will not do
We do not design arrangements to put land in someone else's name for a foreign buyer, and we will tell you plainly when what you have been offered is that arrangement wearing different clothes. If money has already moved on a deal like that, do not wait for a report to say so — read what to do when you have already paid and book a consultation. What the engagement costs, and how the fee scales with the number of titles and the complexity of the deal, is on the cost page.
Frequently asked questions
How long does property due diligence take?
Commonly two to four weeks from the day we have the documents, depending on the registry. Where the property sits far from Metro Manila, where the registry copy has to be reconstituted, or where the seller's papers arrive in pieces, it runs longer. We tell you which of those applies to your property at the scope call rather than at the end.
What do I actually receive at the end?
A written due diligence report: what we pulled and from where, what each document shows, the risks ranked by seriousness, and a clear recommendation to proceed, to proceed on stated conditions, or not to proceed. It is written to be read by you, not by another lawyer, and we walk you through it.
Can this be done while I am overseas?
Yes. The scope call is remote, documents travel by email and courier, and the registry, treasurer and site work is done here by us. Where a signature is genuinely required from you, a properly drawn special power of attorney, apostilled or consularized where you are, usually covers it.
Should I pay a reservation fee before the report is finished?
We advise against paying anything you cannot recover before the checks are complete, and against paying in a form that leaves no trail. Where a seller insists on holding the property, the safer structure is a short written reservation that is refundable if due diligence turns up a defect, with the deposit staged and receipted.