Short answer. Yes. Unless the contract shows a contrary intention, the law reads into every sale an implied warranty that the thing is free from hidden faults or defects, or any undeclared charge or encumbrance — alongside an implied warranty that the seller actually has the right to sell it.
What the law says
An implied warranty that the thing shall be free from any hidden faults or defects, or any charge or encumbrance not declared or known to the buyer.
Civil Code, Article 1547 — Implied Warranties (Title and Against Hidden Defects). Read the full provision →
The warranty exists without being written down
Article 1547 states that in a contract of sale, "unless a contrary intention appears," the law implies certain warranties automatically. Among them is the one this question asks about: "an implied warranty that the thing shall be free from any hidden faults or defects, or any charge or encumbrance not declared or known to the buyer." A seller does not need to promise this in writing, or say it out loud, for it to apply — the law supplies it as part of the sale unless the parties have shown they intended otherwise.
It is paired with a warranty of the right to sell
The same article also implies a separate warranty that the seller "has a right to sell the thing at the time when the ownership is to pass, and that the buyer shall from that time have and enjoy the legal and peaceful possession of the thing." So the buyer gets two automatic protections in the same sale: that the seller actually had the right to sell, and that the thing itself is free from hidden faults, defects, or undeclared burdens.
The warranty covers what was hidden, not what was disclosed
The wording specifically protects against faults, defects, charges, or encumbrances that were "not declared or known to the buyer." A defect the seller openly disclosed, or one the buyer already knew about before the sale, falls outside what this warranty is meant to cover — the article is built around the idea of something hidden from the buyer at the time of the transaction, not every imperfection a thing might have.
Who this warranty does not bind
The article carves out a specific exception: it will not be "held to render liable a sheriff, auctioneer, mortgagee, pledgee, or other person professing to sell by virtue of authority in fact or law, for the sale of a thing in which a third person has a legal or equitable interest." These sellers act under legal authority rather than as the thing's own owner, and the article does not extend the same implied warranty to a sale made in that capacity.
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.
- Eduardo Atienza vs. Golden Ram Engineering Supplies & Equipment Corporation and Bartolome Torres, G.R. No. 205405, June 28, 2021 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- In the Matter of Urgent Petition for the Release of Prisoners on Humanitarian Grounds, G.R. No. 252117, July 28, 2020 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- RCBC Savings Bank vs. Noel M. Odrada, G.R. No. 219037, October 19, 2016 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Estelita Villamar vs. Balbino Mangaoil, G.R. No. 188661, April 11, 2012 — read the decision on LawPhil →