Explanation to delay of title after full payment

QUESTION: Sir John, I fully paid last December 2009 a subdivision I bought from a developer, I already paid everything including closing and registration fees, but it's been 8 months already that they are making excuses about the delay of my land title?

ANSWER: It is because of the delay of Certificate of Authority to Register (CAR) issued by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). This is the vital document needed to register a property under the new owner in the Registry of Deeds. In the past CAR is processed in various BIR District Offices. However, sometime in the past decade, after the real estate developers were classified "large accounts", this BIR workload is moved to a centralized processing site in the BIR Headquarters (in Quezon City) handling large accounts. Work in that that processing site is so huge, resulting to a delay. I have spoken to a liaison officer of a big condominium developer and she said it will take around AT LEAST 8 MONTHS to process before the Real Estate Title comes out from the month the closing fees are paid by the buyer -- the delay is in the BIR's issuance of CAR.