Short answer. When a lease is silent on payment details, Article 1679 fills the gap: the place of payment follows the rules on payment under Article 1251 — generally the tenant's domicile — and the timing is governed by the custom of the place where the property is located.
What the law says
If nothing has been stipulated concerning the place and the time for the payment of the lease, the provisions or article 1251 shall be observed as regards the place; and with respect to the time, the custom of the place shall be followed.
Civil Code, Article 1679 — Place and Time of Rent Payment. Read the full provision →
Where you must pay when the lease does not say
Article 1679 sends the question of place to Article 1251, the general rule on payment. That article provides that if there is no designation in the obligation and the undertaking is not to deliver a determinate thing, payment shall be made at the domicile of the debtor. In a lease, the debtor for rent is the tenant. This means, in the absence of any agreement, the tenant's residence is technically the default place of payment — the landlord would have to come to the tenant to collect, rather than requiring the tenant to travel to pay. In practice, most parties agree on a method that avoids this ambiguity, but the statutory fallback is clear.
When you must pay — custom governs the timing
For timing, Article 1679 points to the custom of the place. This is a deliberately flexible rule. The law recognizes that rental customs differ: some communities expect monthly payment at the start of the month, others at the end; some localities have long-standing practices around quarterly rents for certain property types. The "place" here is the locality where the leased property is situated. If you and your landlord dispute when rent is due, the answer is found in what is customarily done in your area for similar properties — not in what either of you assumed without saying.
The practical lesson: put it in writing
The default rules exist to resolve gaps, but they create uncertainty that a single clear sentence in your lease could eliminate. A lease that says "rent is due on the first day of each calendar month, payable by bank transfer to the landlord's account" leaves nothing open. Without that, both parties are left relying on statutory gap-fillers that reference the debtor's domicile and local custom — neither of which is easy to prove after a dispute has started. If your lease is already signed and silent on these points, it is worth agreeing on the mechanics in writing as a supplemental agreement before any dispute arises.
What happens if the tenant moves
Article 1251 also addresses a situation that can arise under leases: if the tenant changes domicile. Under that article, if the debtor changes his domicile in bad faith or after he has incurred in delay, the additional expenses shall be borne by him. Applied to rent, this means a tenant who moves and thereby makes collection more difficult — especially after already being in arrears — can be required to cover any extra costs the landlord incurs to collect. The move does not change what is owed; it just shifts the cost of the inconvenience to the party who caused it.