Dear PAO,

I would like to seek your legal advice regarding my lease. I leased an apartment under a one-year written lease agreement. However, my lease contract had already expired four months ago, but I continued paying my monthly rent regularly, and my landlord has continued accepting my payments without asking me to leave or requiring me to sign a new lease agreement. Recently, my landlord informed me that I should vacate the apartment because our written lease contract had already expired. May I be lawfully evicted by my lessor?

Constance

Dear Constance,

The principle of tacita reconduccion or implied new lease is found under Article 1670 of the New Civil Code which states that:

“If at the end of the contract the lessee should continue enjoying the thing leased for fifteen days with the acquiescence of the lessor, and unless a notice to the contrary by either party has previously been given, it is understood that there is an implied new lease, not for the period of the original contract, but for the time established in Articles 1682 and 1687. The other terms of the original contract shall be revived.”

In relation to this, Article 1687 of the same Code provides that “if the period for the lease has not been fixed, it is understood to be from year to year, if the rent agreed upon is annual; from month to month, if it is monthly; from week to week, if the rent is weekly; and from day to day, if the rent is to be paid daily. xxx”

There is an implied renewal of the contract when the following elements concur: (a) the term of the original contract of lease has expired; (b) the lessor has not given the lessee a notice to vacate; and c) the lessee continued enjoying the thing leased for 15 days with the acquiescence of the lessor (Buce vs. Spouses Galeon, G.R. No. 222785, 02 March 2020, Ponente: Associate Justice Jose C. Reyes Jr.).

In the case of Samelo vs. Manotok Services, Inc. (G.R. No. 170509, June 27, 2012), the Supreme Court, speaking through Associate Justice Arturo D. Brion, ruled that “a notice to vacate constitutes an express act on the part of the lessor that it no longer consents to the continued occupation by the lessee of its property. After such notice, the lessee’s right to continue in possession ceases and her possession becomes one of detainer.”

As can be inferred from your narration of facts, you may be evicted by your lessor. An implied new lease was set when your lessor did not send you a notice to vacate and you continued occupying the leased property for another four months. During this time, your lease contract was renewed from month to month since you were paying rent on a monthly basis. However, your lessors’ express act of sending a notice to vacate shows that he no longer consents to your continued enjoyment of the property, the implied lease was not extended. As such, your lessor may validly terminate your lease at the end of each month by serving a notice to vacate.

We hope that we were able to answer your queries. This advice was solely based on the facts you have narrated and our appreciation of the same. Our opinion may vary when other facts are changed or elaborated.

Thank you for your continued trust and support.

Editor’s note: Dear PAO is a daily column of the Public Attorney’s Office. Questions for Chief Acosta may be sent to [email protected]