Short answer. If you waived the warranty without knowing the risk, you can still recover from the seller the value the property had at the time of eviction. You cannot recover more — but you are not left with nothing. Only a waiver made with full knowledge of the risks completely releases the seller.
What the law says
If the vendee has renounced the right to warranty in case of eviction, and eviction should take place, the vendor shall only pay the value which the thing sold had at the time of the eviction. Should the vendee have made the waiver with knowledge of the risks of eviction and assumed its consequences, the vendor shall not be liable.
Civil Code, Article 1554 — Effect of Waiver of Warranty. Read the full provision →
Two kinds of waiver, two very different outcomes
Article 1554 of the Civil Code draws a sharp distinction based on what you actually knew when you signed away the warranty. If you renounced the warranty without genuinely understanding that eviction was a real risk — perhaps because you were not told about an existing claim or encumbrance — the waiver does not protect the seller fully. The seller still owes you the value the property had at the time you were evicted. You lose the full warranty, but you recover at least that much. If, on the other hand, you signed the waiver with full knowledge of the specific risks and chose to assume them anyway, the seller owes you nothing.
What you recover when the waiver was uninformed
The recovery available under an uninformed waiver is the value of the property at the time of eviction — not the price you paid for it. If the property increased in value between your purchase and the eviction, you recover the higher current value. If it decreased, you recover the lower current value. You do not recover other items like improvements you made, litigation costs, or consequential losses — those extras are part of the full warranty that you did waive. This is a reduced but meaningful recovery.
What counts as a knowing waiver
A waiver qualifies as made with knowledge of the risks when the buyer was actually aware, at the time of signing, of the specific danger — a pending claim, a dispute over title, a third party with a competing right — and chose to proceed anyway. General boilerplate language in a deed saying the buyer waives all warranties does not automatically mean the buyer had actual knowledge of the risk. Whether knowledge existed is a factual question. If you were never told about the claim that eventually led to your eviction, that is strong evidence that your waiver was uninformed.
Documenting your position
If you have been evicted and you believe your waiver was uninformed, gather everything you signed and everything the seller told you before the sale. Look for what disclosures were made about title, pending cases, and encumbrances. The seller bears the burden of showing that your waiver was knowing and voluntary. If the seller cannot prove that, the Article 1554 minimum recovery — the property's value at eviction — should be available to you. A lawyer can help you assess whether the waiver in your specific deed meets the threshold for a fully informed assumption of risk.