I had a look at some aboriginal land up in the mountains this weekend, but the whole legal situation around it seems a bit sketchy. So, what I understand is that the title of the land cannot be transfered to me(nor my Taiwanese wife), but I can enter in to a longterm lease agreement with the land owner. What would the standard lease terms be and for how long?
Is there any way the landowner can reneg after we entered the contract, or is this setup legally ok? From my understanding, from what my wife translated, what the agent said is that we can get a mortgage from the bank to acquire the land, which would to me imply that the contract is solid if the bank agrees to use it as collateral.
Also, most of the housing up there seems to have been built without getting the appropriate building permits and that in practice this is not required as long you dont build anything made of concrete(so only prefab or wooden cottages). Does this sound right ?
Anyway, anyone got any experience of building on aboriginal land and can share their experience ?
From what I understand banks here need land title to proceed with mortgage financing so be very careful about signing anything, i.e. double due diligence. Two separate apartment owners in my building have been refused financing because a local âland kingâ holds all the land titles. In both cases the agent knew of the situation and did not disclose.
Yea, of course I will double check this with a outside lawyer as well before proceeding. Just asking in general advice if someone else has âboughtâ aboriginal land.
Your situation, I am curious, what kind of land are you located on and how come the apartment owners do not have title to the land as well? Here in Taipei I own the apartment and a % of the underlying land of the building.
Itâs in Taipei too but an area where historically all the land was owned by one family. People buy expecting to receive a % land title and then find out thereâs none. Itâs a scam and I suspect the land king is triad connected so people quickly drop the issue.
You mean in the sales agreement it says you get a % of the land, when in fact you donât ? Or you mean in the sales contract itself it is all explained, it is just that people do not read it ?
I donât know. Itâs very odd. My own apartment was bought by a guy for 10 mil. He renovated the downstairs spending quite a lot of money (Iâm a rooftop) and got tenants in. Then he went to the bank to mortgage it and got kicked back. He ended up selling the property to the land king for the same 10 mil. A guy on the third floor did the same but now lives there. You have to wonder, where was the due diligence?
My understanding has always been that in the city, in the more âestablishedâ neighborhoods (like ours), itâs not at all uncommon to purchase the dwelling proper, without gaining any title whatsoever to the dirt upon which itâs situated.
That, in fact, this notion of owning the ground as well as the apartment is kind of a newfangled thing.
I know that for the apartments above MRT stations it was something made very clear at the timeâŚfor obvious reasons you couldnât have land title over land purchased for construction of the MRT.
I guess in my case it could be out-of-towners presuming title would be forthcoming without checking.
Iâve gone through it before. There is talk of changing the laws.
But basically you lease for 20, 50, 99 whatever years. The important point in the contract is to say if they back out they owe xxx amount. 10 million is not an unheard of amount.
Where things get tricky is when the contract signature dies, then itâs a long drawn out court case which in the end means you obviously lose the land as your not aboriginal and even though they owe xxx amount you probably never will collect it.
Run away is my opinion unless you have money to lose and just want a weekend getaway place. Others only but land free and clear with your own name on the title.
Edit. Also if your wife dies and your not Taiwanese you just lost it. As I remember they give you 3 years to sell it, but I might be wrong
Acquire does not mean to have ownership, it means to take possession of something, hence I used that word.
I am just repeating the confusing information I got from my wife when she translated what the agent said, and I agree its odd, which is why I asked about the mortgage etc.
There is no special piece of land, it was a general question about the legalities as I found some of the information I got odd.
Fair enough.
Sounds like what @Taidong says about the length of lease is like what occurs in China.
In China, supposedly you donât technically own the condo, apartment, land, or whatever, as itâs still under âcommunal/communistâ land laws.
Thereâs plenty of beautiful land down on the east coast of Taitung (north toward ćĺ) that you can own outright.
Electrification of the rail-line will soon make Taipei to Taitung trip under 4 hours.
Good luck wherever you are trying to buy land. Itâs a nice dream, indeed.
I have only heard casual conversations about this so have no direct insight.
Living in Hualien I have heard of people renting the aboriginal land as some is in good location and the land cannot be sold outside of the aboriginal community.
Take heed of the advice given above about owners passing awayâŚhave heard some friends talk about this problems when heirs become involved. Seems some contracts are actually not legally binding in a sense of any particular protection given to person renting the land.
Think long and hard about renting the land. If not planning on spending much money setting up your home there then take the riskâŚbut if planning any major outlay of funds then strongly consider some other location.
Miaoli should have some nice lifestyle blocks for sale but I think prices have risen fast in recent years because thereâs too many people looking to buy, well, lifestyle blocks.
