Short answer. Not merely because arrears exist. Article 1551 makes the vendor liable for eviction where the property is sold for nonpayment of taxes that were due and were not made known to the buyer before the sale. Discovering arrears is a contract problem; losing the property is the warranty problem.

What the law says

If the property is sold for nonpayment of taxes due and not made known to the vendee before the sale, the vendor is liable for eviction.

Civil Code, Article 1551 — Eviction for Unpaid Taxes. Read the full provision →

Two conditions, and both are required

Article 1551 is a single sentence carrying two conditions. The property must have been sold for nonpayment of taxes due, and those taxes must not have been made known to the vendee before the sale. Both have to be present. A buyer who opens a statement of account and finds years of arrears has found a problem, but not yet the problem this article addresses, because the article is about the buyer who is actually deprived of the property because of those arrears. Until that happens, the buyer's complaint lives in the contract, not in this warranty.

Nondisclosure is the hinge

The words that decide most of these disputes are not made known to the vendee before the sale. A seller who disclosed the arrears, or whose deed recited them, or who produced a tax clearance showing the position, has given the buyer what the article requires, and a buyer who bought with that knowledge accepted the risk. This is why disclosure belongs in writing and in the deed itself. Verbal assurance that the taxes are current is exactly the kind of representation neither side can prove two years later, when it matters.

Arrears you merely discover

That is the far more common situation, and it does not leave a buyer without recourse. The seller's undertakings in the deed about the state of the property, and the general obligation not to misrepresent what is being sold, remain available. Practically, the arrears attach to the property and the local treasurer will look to whoever holds it, so a buyer usually has to settle them first and pursue the seller afterwards rather than the other way around. Keeping the official statement of account and the receipts is what makes that recovery possible at all.

What to do before closing, and after

Before closing, ask the local treasurer's office directly for a statement of account and a tax clearance in the seller's name, rather than accepting the seller's copies of receipts. Check the tax declaration matches the property and the title. Then put the position into the deed: state what is owed as of a given date and say plainly who pays it. If you have already bought and the arrears surfaced afterwards, get the official statement, keep every receipt for what you pay, and write to the seller promptly, because the record you build now is what any later claim rests on.

Related provisions

Note. Statute text quoted on this page is reproduced from the official enactment and is linked to the full provision. The explanation around it is general legal information from Vivas & Nobles Law Office, not legal advice. Whether it applies to your situation depends on facts only a lawyer reviewing them can assess.