Short answer. As you received it, minus what ordinary wear and tear or the passage of time reasonably took away. Article 1665 of the Civil Code requires the lessee to return the leased property as received, except for what has been lost or impaired by the lapse of time, ordinary wear and tear, or an inevitable cause.
What the law says
The lessee shall return the thing leased, upon the termination of the lease, as he received it, save what has been lost or impaired by the lapse of time, or by ordinary wear and tear, or from an inevitable cause.
Civil Code, Article 1665 — Return of the Thing Leased. Read the full provision →
The baseline standard: as you received it
Article 1665 states the rule directly: the lessee shall return the thing leased, upon the termination of the lease, as he received it. That is the starting expectation — the condition at the beginning of the lease is the benchmark for the condition at the end. Everything else the article says is a specific carve-out from that baseline, not a separate standard replacing it.
The three excused causes of change
The article then lists exactly what is excused: save what has been lost or impaired by the lapse of time, or by ordinary wear and tear, or from an inevitable cause. Simple aging of the property, the ordinary deterioration that comes from normal use, and damage from an inevitable cause — something beyond anyone's control — are all treated as acceptable changes you are not required to reverse or compensate for when you move out.
What falls outside those three causes
Because the article excuses only these three specific causes, damage that does not fit any of them — harm caused by misuse, neglect, or an avoidable accident, for instance — is not covered by the exception. The "as received" baseline still applies to that kind of change, since it is not the lapse of time, ordinary wear and tear, or an inevitable cause that produced it.
Why documenting the starting condition matters
Since the entire test in Article 1665 compares the property's condition at the end against its condition at the start, the strongest position at move-out is to be able to show what "as received" actually looked like. Photographs, a written inventory, or any other record made when you first took possession gives you something concrete to measure against, rather than relying on memory or assumption when the lease ends.
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.
- Agustin P. Dela Torre vs. The Hon. Court of Appeals, et al./Philippine Trigon Shipyard Corporation, et al. vs. Crisostomo G. Concepcion, et al, G.R. No. 160088 / G.R. No. 160565, July 13, 2011 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- University Physicians Services, Inc. vs. Marian Clinics, Inc. and Dr. Lourdes Mabanta, G.R. No. 152303, September 1, 2010 — read the decision on LawPhil →