House purchase - deslinde advice

TravelHippo

Active member
Mar 24, 2008
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Hello -

I've been searching though all the 'deslinde' posts and can't quite find the information I am looking for, so thought it best just to ask, as it is quite urgent.

My husband and I are purchasing a property with a sale date of Feb 1st, but are supposed to be signing the contracts and making the transaction of payment tomorrow (in order to insure the money has gone through by the 1st.)

Everything has been going very well, but when we originally began talking with the property owner, she mentioned the possibility of needing a 'deslinde', but assured us that if this was the case, she would take care of that.

As promised, she looked into it and shortly after, she spoke with our lawyer and was told a 'deslinde' would not be required, because she is passing us her whole title.

We trusted this and thought no more of it until doing some research today to find out it seems a 'deslinde' is required on all properties as of April 2009.

Is there any exceptions to this law or reason why this property would not need a deslinde? What happens if we are to puchase it without the 'deslinde'? Bad idea? Should we hold off on making the purchase? Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks so much!!
 

anitaemma

New member
Aug 25, 2006
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I think that she is right if you buy a whole property not part of some bigger but later you cannot sell it without deslinde because by this new law it can be sold only once, perhaps for reasons that people can sell once their house if needed.
 

J D Sauser

Silver
Nov 20, 2004
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S t o p !

"TIULO" - title / deed. To deed or not to deed :)?

Yo tengo titulo! Well, yes they have, but then they don't so they cannot sell, legally (that's what the law says, CANNOT SELL until segregated and new title (to the seller) issued first!
No deslinde (segregation) - no new deed issued to the buyer. The seller very well MAY have a "titulo" as they would like to call it -a contract and maybe some registration from the old land court - but YOU won't until it is segregated!

What is segregation? Pieces of land may, over time have been sold OUT of a larger piece of land which initially was registered byt the means of individual contracts and again sub contracts dependent upon each other. Segregation re-organizes these fractured ownership claims, verifies them against each other (so they don't overlap) and issues new registered deeds from the land court. Segregation is a PROTECTION to the buyer. It shows the buyer that what he is being offered to buy indeed exists in size and shape and allow easy access to record proving the seller indeed is the current owner. YOU WANT THAT!

IF your seller says that it's "easy" and/or you "may", "might just / only", blah blah... well, ask your lawyer to draw up a contract to your intention to buy when it is segregated and a clear new title is presented to you from the seller. Deposits don't go to the "seller" but into an escrow account (not the seller's lawyer's either).
Keep in mind, it will take 1 to 3 years for the seller to segregate!

If YOU intend to segregate, you may find that part of your land as described is overlapping onto other fragments of land described out of a master piece of land. You may find yourself ill equipped to defend a growing number of "claims" against your alleged ownership etc.

Exceptions? YES, there is one. When the new law prohibiting the sale of land without previous segregation after the cut off date (if I remember well April 2009) was being applied, two things mainly happened.

  1. The courts got run over with deslinde applications.
  2. Some people saw themselves financially unable to go thru the process. Especially country folks with no savings. This law basically put them into a position where what they owned they could not sell without the "help" of a buyer who would advance the funds necessary to go thru the segregation process. As you could imagine, some "sharks" would go around and tell helpless people that they could NOT sell without their help... basically picking up land from them for next to nothing after discounting for this'n'that....
The answer was, that sellers could sell ONE MORE time WITHOUT segregating, using just a contract. Then, however the buyer is required to segregate.
I urge you NOT to see this as a change in heart of the law and neither as an opportunity to go ahead and buy land in a foreign country with a track record of land fraud from a buyer who apparently can not show you a registered land court issued clear deed to his name.

Finally, you NEVER pay money in advance based on a contract because the seller tells you so. Not in your country and certainly NOT in this one here.
Get a reputable and knowledgeable lawyer to educate you on your rights, risks and safe ways to proceed and to veil for your interests all the way thru your buying process. A real estate agent is NOT your lawyer... in most cases they are not ever real RE professionals as you would probably expect where you may come from.
Don't fall in love with palm trees... there are plenty. IF you can't have a piece of RE SAFELY on your terms... THERE WILL BE OTHERS.

... J-D.
 
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Mack

Active member
Jan 10, 2009
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Excellent post J-D but I need you to clarify a point for me. My understanding is that technically the seller can sell the land but before title can be transferred into the buyers name deslindes is needed. If the seller has a
registered land court issued clear deed to his name.
I'm confused by this part
Keep in mind, it will take 1 to 3 years for the seller to segregate!
Are you saying that if I purchase property today that has no deslindes it will take tha long before I can take possession?
Thanks,
Mack.
 

Ringo

On Vacation!
Mar 6, 2003
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Very good J D.

I read somewhere, sorry that I can not reference it, that there is 1/3 more land claimed/titled/registered in the Dominican Republic then it has. These are not the deslinded ones so not included. Keep in mind that a deslinded property can have problems also; I know due to personal experience.

You can sell one time and can buy and occupy property that does not have a deslinde but you can not legally sell it until it has been deslinded. This can take 1 to 3 years. IF the property has a problem, it must be cleared up before a deslinde will be issued. This can take another year or two and get very messy and expensive with no guarantee of the outcome.

In the last few years, property values have gone up 2 to 5 times and people are now very aware that they have the land that they own OR THINK they own. Not uncommon for wire fences and markers to get moved/changed/lost. This is one reason for the new deslinde process using GPS coordinates. Some/many ? finding the old/original boundaries changed and some land owned/claimed by two.

I personally will not buy anymore without a deslinde AND have my lawyer and surveyor search it. I did buy properties before the new law, had no problems with two but they still took over a year to deslinde. One has been in litigation for over 5 years. As far as I know, Condos/apts are not deslinded but the complex should be but an expert on these can make this clearer.

I don't care how much I like the property, seller and R E agent. I have my lawyer do his job, advise me and handle the transaction. This is NO place for amateurs, no matter how good you think you are.

Ringo
 

J D Sauser

Silver
Nov 20, 2004
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www.hispanosuizainvest.com
Excellent post J-D but I need you to clarify a point for me. My understanding is that technically the seller can sell the land but before title can be transferred into the buyers name deslindes is needed. If the seller has a
I'm confused by this part
Are you saying that if I purchase property today that has no deslindes it will take tha long before I can take possession?
Thanks,
Mack.

Not being a lawyer, I cannot not answer your first question, Mack. I do seem to understand that as Ringo points out some properties may be defined enough (probably not chipoffs of another main piece), not to need deslinde(?)).

1 to 3 years. I was initially promised that the deslinde process would take 6 to 8 months. The land courts are completely overrun with applications still today. I know of segregation process' which came thru in about a year, I know of others, which after now almost 3 years, still are in the works.

Anyways, "investing" in RE is always involving money and laws. One should ALWAYS retain the services of a reputable and in the mater specialized lawyer, before, during and all the way thru such transactions. I think that is yet again, the core message.

Thanks to all for your favorable reception.

... J-D.
 

Black Dog

Bronze
May 29, 2009
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Mack, you can sell a house today (and close) that does not have the deslinde. In order for the buyer to have the title transferred into his name the deslinde must be carried out therefore the lawyer should retain the cost of the deslinde from the sales proceeds and oversee the deslinde process. If you are beaten down on your price, you may agree with the buyer that they will cover the cost of the deslinde but as a rule it is the sellers responsibility. But as others have pointed out the buyer should take legal advice from a reputable lawyer. My lawyer has given me the heads up on a number of properties where he knows we 'could' have title issues down the line, walk away from those!
 

Mack

Active member
Jan 10, 2009
362
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Thanks J-D and Black Dog. I have a vested interest in asking because I am looking after the sale of my daughter's villa as she is out of the country. I have in my posession her title deed. We haven't had any offers yet so I'm always looking for a heads up.
I find the whole deslindes thing a little difficult to get my head around.:ermm:
Mack.