Short answer. It ends automatically. Article 1669 provides that if the lease was made for a determinate time, it ceases upon the day fixed, without the need of a demand. When a lease has a set end date, no notice or demand from the landlord is needed to end it; it simply expires when the agreed day arrives.
What the law says
If the lease was made for a determinate time, it ceases upon the day fixed, without the need of a demand.
Civil Code, Article 1669 — Lease for a Fixed Term Ends Automatically. Read the full provision →
A fixed term ends on its own
Article 1669 gives a clear answer for leases with a set duration: if the lease was made for a determinate time, it ceases upon the day fixed, without the need of a demand. 'Determinate time' means the parties agreed on a definite end, a one-year lease, or a lease until a named date. When that day comes, the lease is over by operation of the agreement itself. The landlord does not have to send a notice, make a demand, or take any step to bring it to an end; the arrival of the agreed date does that. The tenant's right to stay ends with the term.
Why no notice is required
The logic is that both sides already agreed, at the outset, exactly when the lease would end. Having fixed the day themselves, they are taken to know it; there is nothing for a notice to announce. This is different from a lease with no fixed period, where the law does look to the rhythm of the rent and where ending the arrangement requires the proper steps. For a determinate-term lease, the end date is the notice. So a tenant who stays past the last day is not waiting for the landlord to act; the tenant is already holding over beyond a lease that has expired on its own terms.
What this changes about a holdover tenant
Because the lease ends without demand, a tenant who remains after the term is, from that moment, staying beyond an expired contract rather than under a continuing one. That has consequences: the landlord may treat the possession as unlawful and pursue the remedies for recovering the property. There is one important qualification, however. If the tenant stays on and the landlord acquiesces without objecting, the law can treat the situation as an implied new lease on the old terms but for a shorter, statute-set period. So automatic expiry is the default, but a landlord's silence in the face of a continued stay can quietly create a fresh, if shorter, arrangement.
What landlords and tenants should watch
For a landlord, the practical point is that while no notice is legally required to end a fixed-term lease, staying silent while the tenant remains can unintentionally spawn an implied renewal; the clean course is to object promptly if you want the property back. For a tenant, it means you cannot assume you may stay until told to leave. Once the agreed day passes, your right to occupy has lapsed, and remaining can expose you to ejectment. Where either side wants clarity, saying in writing whether a continued stay is permitted, and on what terms, avoids the uncertainty that automatic expiry plus a tenant's holdover can create.
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.
- LL and Company Development and Agro-Industrial Corporation vs. Huang Chao Chun and Yang Tung Fa, G.R. No. 142378, March 7, 2002 — read the decision on LawPhil →