title transfer problem...

Hello. I used the search option, but couldn't find anything that answered my following question:

I bought land in DR and made my final payment on the land in December of 2005. I was told by the famil lawyer that it could take anywhere between 3-9 months to receive the title. To my surprise I decided to see what's going on as it has been 5 months now. I now find out that the dag-gon people who sold the land to me haven't paid taxes on the land. My wife spoke to the lawyer and he said that he's "putting pressure on them to pay the taxes or he'll take them to court". He is the family lawyer and has helped my wife's parents in the past when they purchased their home. What happens now? What if they don't pay the taxes on the land, am I responsible? Also, how much "pressure" can the lawyer put on them? Finally, will I have to wait a long time once they pay the taxes to get the title transferred over to me? I'm glad I don't live in DR right now. I'd definitely be in jail as we speak!! This is the type of crap to make you go postal on somebody!! Sorry I needed to vent. Anyone's help is much appreciated.

duhtree said:

And the hits just keep coming!!! Duh!

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Oh no my friend... The hits have yet to come...

Don't be surprised if the lawyer did a deal with the original land owners.
Forget the taxes, pay me X and we will pass the problem onto the dumb gringo.
That may not be the case here, but it's happened before.

I know this is very possible there. Believe me, its not just the dumb gringo. They got my father in law too - the dumb dominican who was born in DR.
The mistake I made was getting a lawyer half way through the process. I started the deal out with help from some friends who live in DR and then after reading some of the horror stories on these forums I decided to get a lawyer. Unfortunately I got one a little too late. The lawyer is a friend of the family so I don't think he had anything to do with it, but my own mom used to steal from me when I was a kid, so believe me, I wouldn't put it past him.
Thanks for everyones input. I need to cool my head off before I head out there next week. I'm really p'd off right now. I guess these things just come with the territory.

duhtree said:

Fitnessguy. Just don't hurt yourself in trying to hurt the sellers. Discretion is sometimes the better part of valor.

I sure hope the house/property has been vacated, aswell. Suerta, John

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Thanks for the timely wisdom. I've cooled off and am just going to enjoy my trip this coming week to Punta Cana. I'll just chalk this crap up as a learning experience. I'm surprised that people can get away with stuff like this though. It's things like this that prevents me from moving to the DR. I love it over there, but people are always trying to get over on you and it goes un-punished. My father inlaw has a house in DR and some dude just walked up in there one day and said that he was there to collect money for a portion of the land that was not paid for. He was the brother of the man that owned the land before my father in law bought it. The house has been there for 10 YEARS! This guy just came out of nowhere to hassle my father in law who is 70 years old. All I know is my father in law wound up paying 12,000 pesos (RD) to this crack head. It's a shame that these things are tolerated. Anyway, I'll probably just do as was suggested and pay the taxes myself. Thanks again...