Unlawful Detainer
Eviction of tenants and occupants whose right to stay has expired or been terminated — non-payment of rent, expired leases, and occupancy by mere tolerance — filed within one year from last demand.
Civil Litigation
When someone occupies your property without the right to stay — or when you are being evicted without due process — the law provides a fast, summary remedy. We handle it from demand letter to writ of execution.
Overview
Philippine law recognizes two ejectment actions, and choosing the right one is half the case. Forcible entry lies when possession was taken from you by force, intimidation, threat, strategy, or stealth. Unlawful detainer lies when possession began lawfully — a lease, a tolerated occupancy, a caretaker arrangement — but continued after the right expired or was terminated, with the case filed within one year from the last demand to vacate. Both are summary proceedings within our civil litigation practice: there is no full-blown trial, and the only issue is physical possession, which is why these cases move faster than almost any other civil action.
Speed, however, rewards preparation. The demand letter must be correctly worded and properly served; where the parties reside in the same city or municipality, barangay conciliation under the Katarungang Pambarangay Law is generally a precondition to suit; and the one-year period must be respected. Get any of these wrong and the case is dismissed before it is heard. Done right, the payoff is substantial: a judgment for the plaintiff is immediately executory, and a defendant can stay execution on appeal only by posting a supersedeas bond and depositing the rent periodically as it falls due. Recoverable amounts are limited to the fair rental value or reasonable compensation for the use and occupation of the property, plus costs and attorney's fees in proper cases.
We act on both sides of these disputes — for owners and lessors recovering their property, and for tenants and occupants facing eviction without proper demand, conciliation, or process. Where the fight is really about ownership rather than possession — competing titles, fraudulent deeds, inherited land — the summary route is the wrong vehicle, and we guide clients into the proper property dispute action instead.
Scope of Work
Eviction of tenants and occupants whose right to stay has expired or been terminated — non-payment of rent, expired leases, and occupancy by mere tolerance — filed within one year from last demand.
Recovery of possession taken by force, intimidation, threat, strategy, or stealth — including land grabbing, fenced-off lots, and structures built on your property overnight.
Properly worded and served demands to pay and vacate, and compliance with Katarungang Pambarangay conciliation where required — the preconditions that make or break an ejectment case.
Complaints, verified answers, and position papers under the expedited rules — cases decided on the papers, without full-blown trial, before the first-level courts.
Immediate execution of ejectment judgments for prevailing plaintiffs — and for appealing defendants, supersedeas bonds and periodic rental deposits to lawfully stay execution.
Defense of tenants and occupants against improper eviction — defective demands, missing conciliation, the wrong action, self-help lockouts, and claims filed out of time.
Common Questions
No. Philippine law does not allow self-help eviction — changing the locks, cutting utilities, or removing a tenant's belongings can expose the owner to civil liability, and even to criminal complaints, no matter how justified the underlying grievance. The proper remedy is a written demand to pay and vacate, barangay conciliation where required, and then an unlawful detainer case, which the rules deliberately make summary and fast. Doing it correctly is not just safer — it ends with a court-issued writ that actually restores possession.
Ejectment is among the fastest civil actions in the Philippine system. Forcible entry and unlawful detainer cases are governed by expedited rules in the first-level courts: there is no full-blown trial, prohibited motions are weeded out, the case is decided mainly on the pleadings, sworn statements, and position papers, and the rules set short periods for each stage. Actual duration still varies with court dockets and the parties' conduct, so no lawyer can promise a date — but the procedure is built for speed, and a judgment for the plaintiff is immediately executory unless the defendant perfects an appeal and posts the required bond and deposits.
Ejectment is a summary remedy, and the law limits it to recent dispossession. A forcible entry case must generally be filed within one year from the unlawful entry — or from discovery, where entry was by stealth — while an unlawful detainer case must be filed within one year from the last demand to pay and vacate. Miss the window and the summary remedy is lost: recovering possession then requires a plenary action (accion publiciana or reivindicatoria) in the proper court, which takes considerably longer. The one-year rule is the single most common reason ejectment cases are dismissed, so the timeline should be mapped before filing.
Often, yes. Under the Katarungang Pambarangay Law, disputes between individuals who reside in the same city or municipality must generally be brought to the barangay for conciliation before a case can be filed in court, and ejectment suits are no exception. Filing without the required certification to file action can get the case dismissed. There are recognized exceptions — for example, where a party is a corporation, where the parties reside in different cities or municipalities not adjoining each other, or where urgent legal action is needed — so part of preparing an ejectment case is determining whether conciliation applies and completing it properly.
Only by paying for the privilege. An ejectment judgment against the defendant is immediately executory — the plaintiff can move for execution at once. To stay execution while appealing, the defendant must perfect the appeal on time, post a supersedeas bond covering the rents and damages accrued up to the judgment, and deposit the current fair rental value with the appellate court periodically as it falls due. Miss any of these and the landlord may execute the judgment despite the pending appeal. The system lets a tenant contest the case on appeal, but not live rent-free while doing so.
Work With Us
Reach us via Call, Viber, or WhatsApp at 0917-187-1951 — whether you are recovering possession or defending against an improper eviction.
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