Short answer. Generally yes. A seller answers for eviction even where the deed of sale says nothing about it, provided you were deprived of the property by a final judgment resting on a right that existed before the sale, or on an act of the seller's own. The parties may, however, have modified that duty.

What the law says

Eviction shall take place whenever by a final judgment based on a right prior to the sale or an act imputable to the vendor, the vendee is deprived of the whole or of a part of the thing purchased. The vendor shall answer for the eviction even though nothing has been said in the contract on the subject.

Civil Code, Article 1548 — Warranty Against Eviction. Read the full provision →

The warranty is built in, not negotiated in

Buyers often search their deed for a warranty clause and, finding none, assume they have nothing. The article says otherwise: The vendor shall answer for the eviction even though nothing has been said in the contract on the subject. The obligation not to have the buyer thrown out by someone with a superior right is part of what a seller undertakes by selling, whether or not anyone wrote it down. So a short, plain deed of sale is not the obstacle it looks like. What you need to establish is not a promise in the document but the two elements the article sets out — a final judgment, and a cause that predates the sale or is attributable to the seller.

"By a final judgment" is the demanding part

Eviction, in this legal sense, is not someone simply turning up with papers and asserting a claim. It shall take place whenever by a final judgment based on a right prior to the sale or an act imputable to the vendor, the vendee is deprived of the whole or of a part of the thing purchased. A demand letter, a barangay complaint, an adverse claim annotated on the title, or a neighbour's confident assertion is not eviction. The deprivation has to come through a judgment that has become final. Note also that partial loss counts — losing a strip of the lot to an adjoining owner engages the warranty just as losing the whole parcel does.

The cause must predate the sale, or be the seller's doing

The right that defeats you must have existed prior to the sale, or the loss must trace to an act imputable to the vendor. This is what separates a seller's responsibility from your own bad luck. An unregistered co-owner's share, an earlier buyer, a mortgage foreclosed on an obligation the seller had already incurred — all sit before the sale. Expropriation years later, or a claim arising entirely from something you yourself did after taking possession, does not. Because dates and sequence decide the question, the deed, the title history, the tax declarations and the annotations on the certificate are the documents to gather first.

It can be reduced — and it can be waived away

The last sentence is the one buyers should read hardest: The contracting parties, however, may increase, diminish, or suppress this legal obligation of the vendor. A clause saying the property is sold "as is, where is", or that the buyer assumes all risks of adverse claims, is an attempt to do exactly that, and such clauses appear routinely in bank and foreclosure sales. Before signing, know which regime you are buying under. If you are already facing a suit over the property, tell your seller in writing at once and take advice immediately — the steps a buyer takes during the case, and how promptly he takes them, can affect what he is able to recover afterwards.

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.

Related provisions

Note. Statute text quoted on this page is reproduced from the official enactment and is linked to the full provision. The explanation around it is general legal information from Vivas & Nobles Law Office, not legal advice. Whether it applies to your situation depends on facts only a lawyer reviewing them can assess.