Short answer. Delivery, not payment. Article 1477 provides that ownership of the thing sold is transferred to the buyer upon actual or constructive delivery. Paying in full does not by itself make you the owner, and taking delivery does — unless the contract expressly reserves ownership until the price is paid.

What the law says

The ownership of the thing sold shall be transferred to the vendee upon the actual or constructive delivery thereof.

Civil Code, Article 1477 — Ownership Passes on Delivery. Read the full provision →

Three moments people run together

A sale has a perfection, a delivery and a transfer of ownership, and they are rarely the same day. Under Article 1475 the contract is perfected the moment the parties agree on the thing and the price, and from that moment each may demand performance of the other. But agreement alone moves nothing. Article 1477 supplies the transfer: The ownership of the thing sold shall be transferred to the vendee upon the actual or constructive delivery thereof. Payment sits outside both. A buyer who has paid everything but taken nothing has a claim against the seller, not yet a thing of his own.

Constructive delivery counts as delivery

You do not always have to carry the thing away. Article 1497 treats the thing as delivered when it is placed in the control and possession of the buyer, and Article 1498 provides that where the sale is made through a public instrument, execution of that instrument is equivalent to delivery unless the deed itself shows otherwise. The same article allows delivery of movables by handing over the keys of the place where they are stored. So a notarised deed will usually have transferred ownership already, which is why sellers who intend to keep title until they are paid must say so.

The reservation clause is the real exception

Article 1478 lets the parties stipulate that ownership shall not pass to the buyer until he has fully paid the price. This is the clause behind most financed purchases, and it reverses the default answer for anyone who signs it. It has to be in the contract; it is not implied from the fact that payment is in installments. So before assuming either way, read the document you signed and look for the sentence that reserves title. That one line decides who owns the thing during the months when the buyer already has it but has not finished paying.

Why the question is worth settling

Ownership decides who bears the loss if the thing is destroyed, who may sell or mortgage it, and whose creditors may reach it if either side is sued. It also decides what a buyer can demand when a seller who has been paid changes his mind. The proof is usually documentary and dull: the deed and its date, the release or gate pass, the acknowledgment of receipt, the registration transfer. Locate those before arguing about ownership, because the date on them is generally what the answer turns on.

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.

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.