- Thread starter NALs
- Start date
New Law - Foreigners Squatting on Private Property or Government Property
Well then come to my barrio. Two Americans squatting in a house nearby, not paying rent, been there for years and even tried to sell the property to two unsuspecting other foreigners, nice home with view. Owner recently died but they were not paying him rent for years. He was sick in Spain (a Brit) so he could not come and take care of business. Before that they occupied another property of an American who came down and forcibly removed them.
The current home they occupy is worth $500,000 +/-.
Man supposedly had a daughter but no one knows how to reach her. Maybe she doesn't care about the value in the property
Imagine you had to come from abroad maybe not knowing the DR and no Spanish and had to deal with inheritance and an asset like that. It would take years. Makes sense if she just doesn’t want to. Anybody on this forum should think seriously about that type of situation and not leave a mess for family to deal with. Maybe think about it before you buy a property in the first place.
I have a way to deal with this but I won't post it here.............
My moral character wouldnt permit me to not pay rent, unless I had an agreement.
So who knows what’s behind it if there really is a heir - a daughter. Surely she must know.
It’s something we’ve thought about as we age. We own a house with 15 tareas, I know it will be a headache for our kids if we still own it when we die. Daughter is a Dominican citizen but speaks no Spanish. Son is fluent, (not a citizen) so the burden will fall on him, and probably whatever family Mr AE has left there at the time.
It’s certainly a consideration everyone should make.
It’s not fun to get into a cat and mouse game with the Dominican authorities and not easy finding the help you need in that situation. I know of an incident where family in NYC was getting help via the US embassy. In these situations probably an advantage being American citizens.
This is EXACTLY why I decided last year not to build my villa. It would leave my son with a huge headache when I die and I did not want to do that to him. My son has never been to a foreign country nor does he speak spanish,it would be a major burden for him.
Sounds like you made a good decision.
I never plan to own anything down here.
I've heard way too many negative stories
from people (both Dominican and foreign) I trust.
If you have kids (or dogs in my case) you if want them to be taken care of and not leave them abandoned or saddle them with your bad decisions once you go for the dirt nap - just leave them cash (preferably where the Feds can't tax it)
I can understand if you are a foreigner in DR and your family lives somewhere else that will be rough. In my case not a problem as my children are Dominican/ Americans and my daughter who lives in DR is a lawyer.
I have properties in Sosua and Santiago, the one in Santiago is "un bien de familia" I inher from my Mother and automatically will pass to my daughters when I die, the one in Sosua that'll be my wife but she don't have nothing to do with the one in Santiago same way I don't have nothing to do with the house she Will inherited from her parents in Santiago.
JJ
I have properties in Sosua and Santiago, the one in Santiago is "un bien de familia" I inher from my Mother and automatically will pass to my daughters when I die, the one in Sosua that'll be my wife but she don't have nothing to do with the one in Santiago same way I don't have nothing to do with the house she Will inherited from her parents in Santiago.
JJ
You don't have to wait until you die, you can pass your real estate to your children in DR, just find an attorney and do the transfer of the property but you will have to pay government taxes and will be at risk of been kicked out of your own house. Need to know your son's before doing that.
JJ
JJ
The conversation seems to have led to a discussion about how to leave your estate in the best condition with the least problems for your beneficiaries and ,like Alta Ego, I have become rather concerned about this , because , again like Alta Ego, I feel that my beneficiaries would be lost in the world of avaricious lawyers,real estate agents and tax officials. The major problem is the property tax which may not have been paid and must be paid at the time of death with penalties. The calculation of the original purchase price is also a headache because many people pay property tax on an amount less than the purchase price. Except for the very simple cases that fall under the umbrella of the Dominican Family Inheritance laws, I personally think it is better to have everything settled before death even if it costs more. I plan to liquidate everything that I have in the DR well before I die and to hold only cash . For now at least , the government is not chasing gift duties and I plan to gift money to my beneficiaries before I die .