Short answer. You may first demand that the seller deliver the full area stated in the contract. If that is not possible, you can choose between a proportional reduction of the price or rescission of the sale, though rescission generally requires the shortfall to reach one-tenth of the stated area.
What the law says
If the sale of real estate should be made with a statement of its area, at the rate of a certain price for a unit of measure or number, the vendor shall be obliged to deliver to the vendee, if the latter should demand it, all that may have been stated in the contract; but, should this be not possible, the vendee may choose between a proportional reduction of the price and the rescission of the contract, provided that, in the latter case, the lack in the area be not less than one-tenth of that stated.
Civil Code, Article 1539 — Sale of Realty by Unit of Measure. Read the full provision →
Your first right is to demand the full area
When land is sold by unit of measure — a stated price per square meter, for example, rather than a lump sum for the whole lot — the seller is bound to deliver everything the contract said the property contained. Your first move as buyer is to demand that delivery in full. This only applies where the contract fixed the price by reference to area or number; a lump-sum sale of a described parcel, taken as a whole regardless of its exact size, works differently and is not what this rule addresses.
When full delivery is not possible: reduce the price or rescind
If the seller genuinely cannot deliver the missing area — there is no more adjoining land to hand over — the law gives you a choice. You may accept what was delivered and ask for a proportional reduction of the price, paying only for the area actually received. Or you may seek rescission, undoing the sale altogether so both sides return what they received. The choice belongs to you as the buyer, not the seller.
Rescission has a one-tenth threshold
Rescission is not available for a trivial shortfall. The law requires the missing area to be at least one-tenth of what the contract stated before you can insist on undoing the sale rather than simply accepting a price reduction. A shortfall smaller than that limits you to the proportional reduction remedy — you keep the property and pay less, but you cannot walk away from the deal on that ground alone.
The same rule applies to inferior quality, and to a narrow exception
The statute treats a quality defect the same way it treats a shortfall in area: if part of the land is not of the quality the contract specified, you have the same reduction-or-rescission choice, and rescission again needs the inferior value to exceed one-tenth of the agreed price. There is one exception to the one-tenth threshold: if you would not have bought the property at all had you known beforehand of the smaller area or the inferior quality, you may rescind the sale even where the shortfall falls under that fraction, because the defect goes to the heart of why you agreed to buy.
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.
- Cebu Windland Development Corporation vs. Ong Siao Hua, G.R. No. 173215, May 21, 2009 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Rudolf Lietz, Inc., vs. The Court of Appeals, et al, G.R. No. 122463, December 19, 2005 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Spouses Lucia A. Orozco and Cresente R. Orozco (deceased), substituted by his heirs, namely:, G.R. No. 222616, April 3, 2019 — read the decision on LawPhil →