Short answer. Four years from the date of the contract. Article 1606 provides that the right of repurchase, in the absence of an express agreement on the period, shall last four years from the date of the contract. Since you and the buyer never agreed on a period, this default four-year term applies.
What the law says
The right referred to in article 1601, in the absence of an express agreement, shall last four years from the date of the contract.
Civil Code, Article 1606 — Period to Repurchase. Read the full provision →
The default term fills the gap left by silence
Article 1606 provides a clear fallback for exactly your situation: the right referred to in article 1601, in the absence of an express agreement, shall last four years from the date of the contract. Because you and the buyer never fixed a specific period for the right to repurchase, the law does not leave the matter open-ended or unenforceable; it supplies a default term. You have four years from the date the contract of sale with right to repurchase was executed to exercise that right.
Why the four-year clock starts at the contract date
The period runs from the date of the contract itself, not from some later event like the buyer taking possession or you deciding you want the property back. This gives both parties a fixed, predictable window: the buyer knows exactly how long the sale remains subject to being undone, and you know exactly how much time you have to act. Letting the four years run from anything other than the contract date would create uncertainty for both sides about when the right actually expires.
What happens once the four years lapse
If you let the four-year period pass without exercising your right to repurchase, the right is generally lost, and the sale becomes final and absolute as to the buyer's ownership, since nothing in this article suggests the default period can be revived once it has run its course. This makes tracking the exact contract date important, since that date is what fixes both the start and the end of your four-year window under this default rule.
What conventional redemption reserves for you
Article 1601 defines the underlying right this deadline applies to: it is your reserved right, as vendor, to repurchase the thing sold, along with your obligation to comply with any stipulations agreed upon regarding how the repurchase is carried out. Knowing you have four years to act, you should use that time to arrange whatever is needed, financing, notice to the buyer, or other steps your agreement calls for, to actually exercise the right before the default period expires.
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.
- Philadelphia Agan vs. Heirs of Sps. Andres Nueva, et al, G.R. No. 155018, December 11, 2003 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Froilan Dala vs. Edith A. Auticio, G.R. No. 205672, June 22, 2022 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Heirs of Antero Soliva vs. Severino, Joel, Grace, Cenon, Jr., Renato, Eduardo, Hilario all surnamed Soliva, et al, G.R. No. 159611, April 22, 2015 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Ronaldo P. Abilla and Geralda A. Dizon vs. Carlos Ang Gobonseng, Jr. and Theresita Mimie Ong, G.R. No. 146651, August 6, 2002 — read the decision on LawPhil →