Short answer. Article 1559 of the Civil Code requires the buyer, as defendant, to ask the court to make the seller a co-defendant. This request must be made within the period set by the Rules of Court for filing an answer to the complaint — acting within that window is critical to bringing the seller into the case.
What the law says
The defendant vendee shall ask, within the time fixed in the Rules of Court for answering the complaint, that the vendor be made a co-defendant.
Civil Code, Article 1559 — How the Vendor Is Summoned. Read the full provision →
The seller's duty to defend the buyer
When you buy property and a third party later files a case claiming ownership of it, your seller has a duty to defend the sale and to protect you from eviction. This obligation — called warranty against eviction — exists in the Civil Code to ensure that the seller does not simply pocket the purchase price and leave the buyer to face a title claim alone. The mechanism for enforcing this obligation at the litigation stage is set out in Article 1559: "The defendant vendee shall ask, within the time fixed in the Rules of Court for answering the complaint, that the vendor be made a co-defendant."
Timing: when the request must be made
The statute is time-sensitive. The request to make the seller a co-defendant must be filed within the period the Rules of Court allow for answering the complaint. This is not a step you can defer until later in the proceedings. If you wait until after the answer period has lapsed, you risk losing the procedural right to bring the seller into the pending case on this basis. The underlying warranty against eviction will still exist as a separate matter, but the cleaner and more direct route — having the seller defend alongside you — depends on acting promptly after you are served with the complaint.
Why this step matters for your claim against the seller
Bringing the seller into the case serves a practical purpose beyond formality. If the court ultimately rules against you and orders you to give up the property, your ability to recover from the seller — for the purchase price, costs of the suit, expenses incurred, and damages — may depend on whether the seller was given the chance to participate in the eviction case and mount a defense. A seller who was properly summoned but failed to defend the buyer, or who was not brought in because the buyer failed to ask in time, presents a different factual picture for the follow-on claim.
What happens after the request is granted
Once the court orders the seller joined as a co-defendant, the seller is part of the litigation and can present evidence and arguments on the question of title. If the plaintiff ultimately prevails and eviction follows, the buyer is in a position to immediately pursue the seller for the warranty obligations the Civil Code imposes — recovery of the price paid, litigation costs, and damages depending on the circumstances. The procedural step under Article 1559 is what preserves that path and keeps the eviction case and the warranty claim in the same proceeding.
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.
- Sps. Michael Uy & Bonita Uy vs. Eduardo Ariza, et al, G.R. No. 158370, August 17, 2006 — read the decision on LawPhil →