Short answer. Only if your repair claim is already liquidated and demandable. Article 1279 requires that both debts be due, liquidated and demandable, and that neither be under controversy. A reimbursement your landlord has never accepted or quantified does not yet meet that test.
What the law says
That the two debts be due; (4) That they be liquidated and demandable;
Civil Code, Article 1279 — Requisites of Legal Compensation. Read the full provision →
What the law says
That each one of the obligors be bound principally, and that he be at the same time a principal creditor of the other
Civil Code, Article 1279 — Requisites of Legal Compensation. Read the full provision →
The five conditions, and the one that usually fails
Article 1279 of the Civil Code sets out what legal compensation requires: That each one of the obligors be bound principally, and that he be at the same time a principal creditor of the other; that both debts consist in a sum of money, or in consumable things of the same kind and quality; That the two debts be due; (4) That they be liquidated and demandable; and that over neither of them is there any retention or controversy commenced by third persons and communicated in due time. Rent satisfies these easily. A repair claim rarely does.
What liquidated means, and why your claim is not
A debt is liquidated when its amount is already determined or determinable by simple computation, not when you think you know what it should be. Your rent is a fixed figure in the lease, due on a fixed day. Your reimbursement is a sum you calculated yourself, from receipts your landlord has not seen, for work he may say was unnecessary, overpriced, or his tenant's own responsibility under the contract. Until he accepts the amount or a court fixes it, the claim is disputed rather than liquidated, and Article 1279 does not let you use it to extinguish anything.
Withholding rent is a real risk
Deducting first and arguing later reverses the burden in a way that works against you. Rent not paid on the due date is a breach of your own obligation regardless of what he owes you, and it exposes you to whatever the lease provides for default — interest, penalty, and the remedies the landlord has for non-payment. Article 1290 makes compensation operate automatically only where every requisite of Article 1279 is present; where one is missing, what you have done is simply not pay. Keep the money available while the reimbursement is being settled.
How to make the deduction proper
Two routes work. Liquidate the claim: put the repairs to your landlord in writing, itemised, with the receipts attached and a demand for a specific sum, and get his written acknowledgment of the amount. Once he accepts the figure, the debts are mutual, due and liquidated, and compensation can operate. Or agree to the set-off outright, which Article 1282 contemplates by allowing the parties to agree upon compensation of debts not yet due. Either way the arrangement should name the months of rent involved and the exact amount applied.
Cases citing this provision
These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.
- Banco De Oro Unibank, Inc. vs. Edgardo C. Ypil, Sr., et al, G.R. No. 212024, October 12, 2020 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Union Bank of the Philippines vs. Development Bank of the Philippines, G.R. No. 191555, January 20, 2014 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Philippine National Bank vs. Court of Appeals, et al, G.R. No. 108052, July 24, 1996 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- United Planters Sugar Milling Co., Inc. vs. The Hon. Court of Appeals, et al, G.R. No. 126890, July 11, 2007 — read the decision on LawPhil →
Related provisions
- Civil Code, Article 1279 — Requisites of Legal Compensation
- Civil Code, Article 1278 — Compensation Defined
- Civil Code, Article 1282 — Voluntary Compensation
- Civil Code, Article 1290 — Compensation by Operation of Law