3 Months

Once upon a time, a buyer domiciled abroad bought a property in the Philippines.

Since the buyer had trust issues, she came home to personally sign the Deed of Absolute Sale and transfer the title. She allotted two months for the transfer process and scheduled her return flight accordingly.

As anticipated, the title transfer encountered delays, and the buyer was in her final week in the country. It's a good thing the title was already scheduled for release a few days before her flight.

She went back to the Registry of Deeds (RD) on the "claim date" mentioned in the stub given to her. When she arrived at the RD, she was surprised to see a long line of disgruntled people waiting for their titles to be released.

When it was her turn to speak with the person in charge (PIC), she was told to return the following week since there was an impending backlog of title releases.

She went back to the RD the following week. Then, the week after. Then another week. In the fourth week, she finally received her title. She had to reschedule her flight multiple times.

End of story.

I wonder if she knew she still had to process the transfer of the tax declaration.

Sadly, government offices in the Philippines can't cope with the sheer number of transactions they must process. This predicament, coupled with underpaid employees, makes the whole process painful.

I often hear people say title transfers will take one to two months. Some even say they have connections to expedite the process. They remind me of contractors who promise to complete construction by a specific date but (99.9% of the time) finish much later.

The conservative time for title (and tax declaration) transfers involving "clean" properties in Metro Manila is three months: 1.5 months for the BIR, one month for the RD, and two weeks for the City Assessor. If the process requires additional steps, it will surely take over three months.

Lessons:

Buyers–assume title transfers would take three months even if brokers say it could be quicker.

Brokers–Under promise, over deliver. Tell your clients it takes (at least) three months.