Short answer. It depends on fault, governed by Articles 1163 to 1165 and 1262. Article 1480 of the Civil Code applies those rules to any injury or benefit to the thing sold between perfection of the contract and delivery, and Article 1163 requires the seller to care for it with the diligence of a good father of a family until then.
What the law says
Any injury to or benefit from the thing sold, after the contract has been perfected, from the moment of the perfection of the contract to the time of delivery, shall be governed by articles 1163 to 1165, and 1262.
Civil Code, Article 1480 — Risk of Loss Between Perfection and Delivery. Read the full provision →
What the law says
Every person obliged to give something is also obliged to take care of it with the proper diligence of a good father of a family, unless the law or the stipulation of the parties requires another standard of care.
Civil Code, Article 1163 — Diligence of a Good Father of a Family. Read the full provision →
Why the timing between perfection and delivery matters
A contract of sale can be perfected, meaning the parties have already agreed on the thing and the price, well before the thing is actually delivered to the buyer. Article 1480 addresses what happens to the thing during that gap: any injury to or benefit from the thing sold, from the moment of perfection to the time of delivery, is governed by Articles 1163 to 1165 and 1262 of the Civil Code, rather than being left unaddressed simply because this in-between period can be legally complicated.
What Article 1163 requires of the seller in the meantime
Article 1163 sets the baseline standard of care: every person obliged to give something is also obliged to take care of it with the proper diligence of a good father of a family, unless the law or the parties' own stipulation requires a different standard. Applied here, the seller, as the one who still has the thing and owes its delivery to you, must exercise this level of care over it before delivery, rather than being free to treat it carelessly simply because a sale has already been agreed upon.
What happens if the seller fails to meet that standard
Because Article 1480 pulls in the broader framework of Articles 1163 to 1165 and 1262, whether the loss or damage falls on the seller or on you as buyer generally turns on whether the seller met that standard of diligence, and on the specific rules those other articles set out for loss, deterioration, and fortuitous events affecting a specific thing owed under an obligation. A loss caused by the seller's failure to exercise proper diligence is treated differently from a loss occurring despite that diligence.
What this means for you as the buyer
In practice, this means the risk of damage between agreeing to the sale and actual delivery is not automatically yours simply because you have already agreed to buy the thing; the seller remains under a real, legally defined obligation to look after it in the meantime. If the thing is damaged during that period, whether you or the seller ultimately bears that loss depends on applying this same diligence standard, and the related rules on loss and deterioration, to the specific facts of what happened and why.
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.
- Sta. Lucia Realty and Development, in Corpora Ted vs. Edsel B. Lumawag, G.R. No. 222897, February 22, 2023 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Sister Pilar Versoza vs. People of the Philippines, Michelina S. Aguirre-Olondriz, Pedro Aguirre, G.R. No. 184535, September 3, 2019 — read the decision on LawPhil →
Related provisions
- Civil Code, Article 1480 — Risk of Loss Between Perfection and Delivery
- Civil Code, Article 1163 — Diligence of a Good Father of a Family