Dear PAO,

I own a piece of land in Pasig City, where I built two houses. In 2018, one of the two houses was rented to Julia on a monthly basis. A contract of lease was signed covering the transaction. She was religiously paying her obligations for two years until she missed them. The total unpaid rent has been running for six months. In one of our conversations, she claimed that she would not pay the rent because she found out that I was not the real owner of the property. Is Julia justified in refusing to pay the rent based on her claim that I do not own the property?

Tess

Dear Tess,

The only issue to be resolved is who, between you and Julia, has a better right to possess the property. Clearly established from the given set of facts is your prior possession of the property until you surrendered the same to Julia pursuant to the lease contract. Julia was able to legally occupy your house because of your contract with her. Because of this, her possession will become illegal if you terminate the contract due to non-payment of rent.

Julia’s refusal to pay her rent despite the existence of the contract of lease and her denial of your ownership over the house are contradictory to the presumption under Section 2 (b), of Rule 131 of the 2019 Rules of Court, which provides that:

“Section 2. The following are instances of conclusive presumptions: xxx

“(b) The tenant is not permitted to deny the title of his or her landlord at the time of the commencement of the relation of landlord and tenant between them.”

The application of the afore-cited presumption was fully explained in the case of Santos v. National Statistics Office, GR 171129, April 6, 2011, where the Supreme Court, speaking through Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo, stated:

“It is clear from the above-quoted provision that ‘[w]hat a tenant is estopped from denying x x x is the title of his landlord at the time of the commencement of the landlord-tenant relation. If the title asserted is one that is alleged to have been acquired subsequent to the commencement of that relation, the presumption will not apply.’ Hence, ‘the tenant may show that the landlord’s title has expired or been conveyed to another or himself; and he is not estopped to deny a claim for rent, if he has been ousted or evicted by title paramount.’

“Thus, we declared in Borre v. Court of Appeals that:

“The rule on estoppel against tenants is subject to a qualification. It does not apply if the landlord’s title has expired, or has been conveyed to another, or has been defeated by a title paramount, subsequent to the commencement of lessor-lessee relationship [VII Francisco, The Revised Rules of Court in the Philippines (1973)]. In other words, if there was a change in the nature of the title of the landlord during the subsistence of the lease, then the presumption does not apply. Otherwise, if the nature of the landlord’s title remains as it was during the commencement of the relation of landlord and tenant, then estoppel lies against the tenant.”

Applying the afore-cited decision in your situation, Julia, being a tenant of your property, is estopped from denying your title at the time of the commencement of your contract of lease. Hence, she cannot refuse to pay rent on the grounds that you did not own the house when your contract started. Nonetheless, such a rule will no longer apply if there has been a change in the title of the house or its ownership has been conveyed or transferred to another during the duration of the lease. If Julia claims that you conveyed ownership or possession of the house to another during the effectivity of your contract of lease, then she is not estopped from questioning your right over the property and receiving payment for rent.

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

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]