Photo from Unsplash | Cytonn Photography
The following post does not create a lawyer-client relationship between Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices (or any of its lawyers) and the reader. It is still best for you to engage the services of a lawyer or you may directly contact and consult Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices to address your specific legal concerns, if there is any.
Also, the matters contained in the following were written in accordance with the law, rules, and jurisprudence prevailing at the time of writing and posting, and do not include any future developments on the subject matter under discussion.
AT A GLANCE:
A deed of sale is a contract between the seller and the buyer of a property whereby the former has the obligation to deliver said property and the latter to pay the price agreed upon by the parties. Absent consent, determinate subject matter or price, the sale is void. (Art. 1458, Civil Code of the Philippines)
A deed of sale is a notarized document containing the names of the buyer and the seller, the address of the property, the original or the transfer certificate of title number, the area and technical description thereof and the price of the sale, among others. If the same is not notarized, it is only valid as between the parties. A deed of sale serves as a documentary evidence showing the transfer of property from the seller to the buyer.
The law says –
According to Article 1458 of the Civil Code, by a contract of sale, one of the contracting parties obligates himself to transfer the ownership and to deliver a determinate thing, and the other to pay therefor a price certain in money or its equivalent.
Accordingly, the elements of a valid contract of sale under Article 1458 of the Civil Code are: (1) consent or meeting of the minds; (2) determinate subject matter; and (3) price certain in money or its equivalent.
In the case of buying a property, there is consent when the parties are of legal age, the description of the property is specifically set out, and the parties agreed as to the price thereof.
Jurisprudence says –
Deed of sale produces no legal and binding effect if there is no consent, determinate subject matter or price certain in money or its equivalent.
The essence of consent is the agreement of the parties on the terms of the contract, the acceptance by one of the offer made by the other. It is the concurrence of the minds of the parties on the object and the cause which constitutes the contract. The area of agreement must extend to all points that the parties deem material or there is no consent at all.
To be valid, consent must meet the following requisites: (a) it should be intelligent, or with an exact notion of the matter to which it refers; (b) it should be free; and (c) it should be spontaneous. Intelligence in consent is vitiated by error; freedom by violence, intimidation or undue influence; and spontaneity by fraud.
Such contract can likewise be be annulled if the consent is vitiated by lack of legal capacity of one of the contracting parties, or by mistake, violence, intimidation, undue influence or fraud.
An annullable contract may be rendered perfectly valid by ratification, which can be express or implied. Implied ratification may take the form of accepting and retaining the benefits of a contract.
Source: Article 1318 of the Civil Code, HIPOLITO AGUSTIN AND IMELDA AGUSTIN, PETITIONERS, VS. ROMANA DE VERA, RESPONDENT, G.R. No. 233455, April 03, 2019, JULIAN FRANCISCO et.al. vs. PASTOR HERRERA, G.R. No. 139982, November 21, 2002
Read also: Legal Implications of a Forged Deed of Sale
Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices specializes in business law and labor law consulting. For inquiries regarding taxation and taxpayer’s remedies, you may reach us at info@alburolaw.com, or dial us at (02)7745-4391/0917-5772207.
All rights reserved.