Short answer. If the house was totally destroyed by the typhoon, the lease is extinguished and rent stops with it. If the destruction was only partial, Article 1655 gives the lessee the choice between a proportional reduction of the rent and a rescission of the lease.
What the law says
If the thing leased is totally destroyed by a fortuitous event, the lease is extinguished. If the destruction is partial, the lessee may choose between a proportional reduction of the rent and a rescission of the lease.
Civil Code, Article 1655 — Destruction of the Thing Leased. Read the full provision →
Total destruction ends the lease by itself
Article 1655 is short: If the thing leased is totally destroyed by a fortuitous event, the lease is extinguished. If the destruction is partial, the lessee may choose between a proportional reduction of the rent and a rescission of the lease. Extinguished means what it says. Nobody has to terminate anything, no notice period runs, and there is no remaining obligation to pay rent for a period after the house ceased to exist, because the lessor can no longer supply the thing the rent was being paid for. A typhoon is the standard example of the fortuitous event the article has in mind.
Total or partial is the real question
Very few houses are reduced to nothing, so the argument is usually about which limb applies. The useful test is not how much of the structure is standing but whether what remains can still serve the use the lease was for. A dwelling with its roof and one wall gone, unsafe to sleep in and beyond ordinary repair, has been destroyed as a dwelling even though rubble and posts remain. Damage that leaves the house habitable while a room or the kitchen is out of use is partial, and that is where the election in the second sentence becomes relevant.
Choosing on partial destruction
Where the destruction is partial, the choice is the lessee's alone: reduce the rent in proportion to what has been lost, or rescind and walk away. A lessor who prefers to keep the tenancy alive cannot force the reduction on you, and one who would rather have the unit back cannot force the rescission. Make the election in writing, promptly, and say which one you are taking. Photographs dated to the days after the storm, and any inspection or barangay certification of the damage, are what a proportional figure will later be argued from.
Damage short of destruction: repairs and danger
Not every storm case runs through Article 1655. Article 1654 obliges the lessor to make all repairs during the lease necessary to keep the property suitable for its use, unless there is a stipulation to the contrary, and Article 1658 lets the lessee suspend payment of rent where the lessor fails to make those repairs or to maintain him in peaceful and adequate enjoyment. Article 1662 reduces the rent in proportion where urgent repairs last more than forty days. Article 1660 goes further for dwellings: where the condition brings imminent and serious danger to life or health, the lessee may terminate at once by notifying the lessor.
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.
- Bayview Hotel, Inc. vs. Court of Appeals, et al, G.R. No. 119337, June 17, 1997 — read the decision on LawPhil →
Related provisions
- Civil Code, Article 1655 — Destruction of the Thing Leased
- Civil Code, Article 1654 — Obligations of the Lessor
- Civil Code, Article 1658 — Suspension of Rent
- Civil Code, Article 1660 — Dangerous Dwelling
- Civil Code, Article 1662 — Urgent Repairs During the Lease