Deal sa lupa na hindi natuloy - is it Estafa?

[DonCamote]

I tried to buy a lot from Mrs. X. The lot was clean, no annotations sa likod ng title, so kampante ako. Ang usapan namin, kaliwaan - Deed of Sale bigay nya, bibigay ko downpayment ko. Done. Next stage - full payment kami upon surrender of Title to us. Aba at ayaw na ituloy ang deal tapos nalaman namin na na-ideal na pala nya sa iba.

Hiningi namin downpayment namin na ibalik, aba e ayaw.

Ni reklamo ko sa baranggay, di umareglo, sila pa may gana na i-elevate daw sa court.

Kinasuhan namin ng criminal case - estafa. Ang problema - dismissed sa Fiscal pa lang. Di ba malinaw na estafa ang ganun? Mukhang na-"settle" kami na hindi namin alam

We filed a Civil case to collect the money. Grabe, kailangan pa hearing bago pumayag na bayaran kami at hulugan pa for 2 years without interest
anyway, pumayag na kami kesa wala. Ang order ng court sa kanila ay bayaran kami ng post dated check. Umokey naman sila. Eto na, first few checks okay pa. pagkatapos tumalbog na yung iba. Hanggang ngayon di pa naibabalik lahat ang pinagpawisan ko.

It's been almost a decade ng ako e naisahan ng isang balasubas. Masakit pa rin na ang pinaghirapan mo ay nakawin lang. May maisu-suggest ba kayo mga igan?

[claRkEnt]

yung bouncing check will be a ground for new estafa case...

[_Qwerty_]

bakit daw ayaw ibalik yung ni down nyo?? parang something's missing.. tapos na dismiss pa agad sa Fiscal?? on what grounds daw??

[shadow]

mukhang malabo kwento mo.....ikaw na naloko, ikaw pa ang mapeperwisyo....tama si clark yun bouncing check niya pwedeng estafa

[DonCamote]

_Qwerty_,
During the several hearings from Baranggay level to the Fiscal, they never denied that they owed us the money. However they said that they return the money immediately, they just promise and promise us that they will return it - pag nag-kapera daw sila uli. In short, nawaldas na pera ko.

Fiscals reasoning was revolving around this - na hindi daw estafa because they did admit to have been indebted to us and they promise to return the money. Ganun ba yun? The intent of the Fiscal was just to determine whether there are sufficient grounds for a criminal offense. Wala daw criminal case. Lalo pang nag yabang ang mga balasubas at hindi talaga pinapansin ang paniningil namin lalo.

We had to file a Civil case - collection. The respondents were ordered to pay us - problem is pinagbigyan sila ng court na hulugan.

claRkEnt, I may have to resort to this estafa case on the bouncing check they don't pay up soon.

[1D4LV]

actually, by not returning the downpayment, it is already considered a criminal act, since sya ang umatras sa deal nyo tapos ayaw nya ibalik ang DP mo. things could be different if ikaw ang umatras tapos based on your agreement, the DP is not refundable. this is indirect robbery.

second criminal act nya is yung estafa or BP22 which is the bouncing check law.

[_Qwerty_]

sa amin kasi madali yan.. pag may utang ayaw magbayad.. pinapapatay na.. kaya nagbabayad naman..

[Honda97]

May resibo ba yung downpayment mo? Ano yung documentation ng pagbigay mo ng downpayment?

BP22 ang kaso. Balik kayo sa korte to show that they did not comply with court order.

[DonCamote]

Thanks for the input guys.

Honda97,

I have complete documentation of all payments I released to them. I made them sign a receipt of the payments.

BP22 is one case I can file. Not complying with a court order is a different offense?

[monsrick]

Tama po sila lahat! May isa pa pong way,if all legal matters dont work out.Ipa media nyo po,like xxx or tulfo.Yaan nyo pong malaman sa buong mundo kalokohan nya.

[_Qwerty_]

yan! snowball na yan!

[simplicity]

naku po. i feel for you bro. sana makuha mo na.
kung ako yan ipapa-kilala ko yan sa mga kakilala kong taga tondo.

[torque2006]

yung bounced checks grounds for estafa.

usually kami what we do is pinapa-rediscount na namen yung post dated checks, kelangan mo lang naman kase bigyan ng notice yung nag-issue ng check na inendorse mo na yung PDCs sa bank, di naman sila pwede tumanggi.

tapos yung about sa dati, di ako sure kung estafa yung case dun, pero dapat liable sila at the least sa civil courts kase they cancelled a contract prematurely.

[Red Bureau]

It would appear that you accepted the postdated checks without the corresponding compromise agreement. Bakit ka pumayag? It is basic practice that if there is already a pending case and you agreed to be paid in installments thru check, a compromise agreement will be drawn between the parties and in the event debtor defaulted in satisfying the payment, the creditor may file a motion before the court for the issuance of a writ of execution to satisfy the whole obligation. Mukhang dito nagkulang sa strategy kaya ikaw pa tuloy ang pinahihirapan. Tapos na dapat yan if you insisted on a written agreement incorporating such contingency provision.

[Memphis Raines]

Fiscals reasoning was revolving around this - na hindi daw estafa because they did admit to have been indebted to us and they promise to return the money. Ganun ba yun?...

I think that the fiscal was driving at the angle of "earnest money" which is common in land deals. The initial downpayment can be considered as earnest money or the monetary form of showing faith that the buyer is interested in pursuing the deal.

Anyhow, a clear cut estafa case can be refiled against them if, this time around, they still fail to settle their obligation as agreed in front of the fiscal or simple promissory note signed by both parties and at least one witness.

With the bouncing checks you now have the grounds to formally file estafa charges.

[praetorian]

File a case for BP 22 for the bounced checks. Criminal case din naman yon - one year imprisonment nga lang pag na-convict. How big was the downpayment? When you say the court allowed them to pay you in installment, did you agree to those terms? Normally, if the court finds the respondent liable after trial, it does not allow installment payments. However, if that was the compromise agreement between the parties, there should have been a clause that says if any installment is not paid, the whole obligation becomes due. At that point, you should normally be able to ask for a writ of execution so you can garnish properties belonging to Mrs X. I suppose pwedeng mag-file ka rin ng contempt of court since technically, they did not follow an order of the court. At least, dagdag sa criminal case na BP 22.

[mr_incredible]

Ganyan din nangyari sa amin.

Half-sister ng dad ko ibinenta sa kanya ang part ng land na dapat paghahatian nilang magkakapatid (not including my dad). Nakapagbayad na kami ng almost .5 million pesos when ibinenta ng hudas sa iba. Siyempre nag-file kami ng kaso. Civil case lang ang pwede isampa so yun ang ginawa.
Nagkaroon din ng mga hearing and ang result ay they had to pay us the amount we gave them plus interest starting from when the decision came out. Medyo unfair pero we abided by the decision.

E ayaw magbayad and medyo napabayaan na ng dad ko so di na follow-up. Lately, however, lumalapit yung hunghang sa dad ko kasi di pala nila mapaghati-hati yung lupa (nasa mother title pa) kasi may kaso nga at nakakabit sa mother title yung kaso. hehe karma sila. Nag-o-offer siya na bayaran lang ung original amount pero di kami pumayag dahil almost 1 mil na ang kailangan nilang bayaran because of the interest hehe.

Since may bouncing checks, pwede na criminal case dyan siguro. But make sure na di mapapakinabangan ang lupa na yun until fully paid kayo.

[Galactus]

Err...estafa is entirely different from BP 22 or the Anti-Bouncing Checks law. Although both are criminal cases, estafa connotes the element of deceit, which may or may not be present in BP 22. Sa BP 22 kasi, issuing a bad check is, in itself, a crime, whether or not deceit is present.

Based on your post, IMO borderline ang estafa sa 1st incident. Baka mahina ang lawyer mo and he didn't present his arguments clearly nung nag-file siya ng information. Depende rin kasi sa fiscal yan, sometimes yung iba maysadong by-the-book kaya nadi-dismiss yung kaso.

On the 2nd case, estafa cannot prosper. Kasi, may mga chekeng nag-clear. So the "swindler" had the intent to pay. Best you can do is file several counts of BP 22 (criminal case) and Sum of Money (civil case), depending on how many checks ang tumalbog. Kaya lang, steel yourself for a long and tedious court battle. Chances are, if ever you decide to file charges, mare-refer kayo sa mediation, kaya better draw up a strategy this early.

[CVT]

I tried to buy a lot from Mrs. X. The lot was clean, no annotations sa likod ng title, so kampante ako. Ang usapan namin, kaliwaan - Deed of Sale bigay nya, bibigay ko downpayment ko. Done. Next stage - full payment kami upon surrender of Title to us. Aba at ayaw na ituloy ang deal tapos nalaman namin na na-ideal na pala nya sa iba.

Hiningi namin downpayment namin na ibalik, aba e ayaw.

Ni reklamo ko sa baranggay, di umareglo, sila pa may gana na i-elevate daw sa court.

Kinasuhan namin ng criminal case - estafa. Ang problema - dismissed sa Fiscal pa lang. Di ba malinaw na estafa ang ganun? Mukhang na-"settle" kami na hindi namin alam

We filed a Civil case to collect the money. Grabe, kailangan pa hearing bago pumayag na bayaran kami at hulugan pa for 2 years without interest
anyway, pumayag na kami kesa wala. Ang order ng court sa kanila ay bayaran kami ng post dated check. Umokey naman sila. Eto na, first few checks okay pa. pagkatapos tumalbog na yung iba. Hanggang ngayon di pa naibabalik lahat ang pinagpawisan ko.

It's been almost a decade ng ako e naisahan ng isang balasubas. Masakit pa rin na ang pinaghirapan mo ay nakawin lang. May maisu-suggest ba kayo mga igan?

Mukhang delikado nga ang naging transaction ninyo.... Dapat ay earnest money lang ang iyong ibinigay para hindi masakit sa bulsa kung magka-onsehan nga katulad ngayon.......

Anyway,- kung talagang kaliwaan,- dapat ay full-payment plus the title in exchange.... Sa atin kasi, (ewan ko sa ibang bansa),- kung sino ang may hawak ng titulo ng lupa,- siya ang may-ari....

4303:gun:

[DonCamote]

It would appear that you accepted the postdated checks without the corresponding compromise agreement. Bakit ka pumayag? It is basic practice that if there is already a pending case and you agreed to be paid in installments thru check, a compromise agreement will be drawn between the parties and in the event debtor defaulted in satisfying the payment, the creditor may file a motion before the court for the issuance of a writ of execution to satisfy the whole obligation. Mukhang dito nagkulang sa strategy kaya ikaw pa tuloy ang pinahihirapan. Tapos na dapat yan if you insisted on a written agreement incorporating such contingency provision.

Red Bureau,

We do have Compromise Agreement. Ngayon lang malinaw sa akin na meron pa pala ibang option dito as you have suggested. I'll try to dig this paper tonight and see what's the clause in case of default.

Thanks po for the input