Short answer. From the day of the notarial prohibition. Article 621 of the Civil Code computes the prescriptive period for a negative easement from the day the dominant estate's owner forbade, by an instrument acknowledged before a notary public, the servient estate's owner from doing an act that would otherwise be lawful without the easement.
What the law says
in negative easements, from the day on which the owner of the dominant estate forbade, by an instrument acknowledged before a notary public, the owner of the servient estate, from executing an act which would be lawful without the easement.
Civil Code, Article 621 — Computing the Prescriptive Period. Read the full provision →
Why negative easements are computed differently from positive ones
Article 621 draws a sharp distinction between the two kinds of easements it addresses. For positive easements, the clock starts from the day the dominant estate's owner, or whoever used the easement, actually commenced exercising it upon the servient estate, meaning some affirmative use of the servient property is what starts the period running. Negative easements work the opposite way, since they consist of restraining the servient owner from doing something, so there is no affirmative use to point to as the trigger.
What actually starts the clock for a negative easement
For a negative easement, Article 621 ties the start of the prescriptive period to the day on which the owner of the dominant estate forbade, by an instrument acknowledged before a notary public, the owner of the servient estate from executing an act which would be lawful without the easement. This means the clock does not start simply because the servient owner happens to refrain from doing something; it requires an actual, formal prohibition, expressed in a notarized instrument, directed at the servient owner.
Why the notarial form matters
The requirement of an instrument acknowledged before a notary public is not incidental; it is what gives the prohibition the formality and evidentiary weight needed to mark a clear, provable starting point for prescription. Because a negative easement depends on restraint rather than visible use, an informal or undocumented objection would leave the starting date uncertain and difficult to prove, which is likely why the law insists on this specific, notarized form rather than any manner of expressing the prohibition.
What this means for someone trying to establish a negative easement
If you are trying to acquire a negative easement by prescription, simply believing the neighboring owner has been restrained from certain acts, or having informally told them not to do something, does not start the prescriptive period under Article 621. What starts the clock is the existence of an actual instrument, acknowledged before a notary, formally forbidding the servient owner from the act in question, and it is the date of that instrument that anchors when the period begins to run.
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.
- Sps. Tedy Garcia and Pilar Garcia vs. Loreta T. Santos, Winston Santos and Conchita, G.R. No. 228334, June 17, 2019 — read the decision on LawPhil →