Nothing has to be signed for a lease to continue. If the term runs out and the tenant is still there with your acquiescence, the Civil Code supplies a new one.
If no period was fixed
A lease with no written term is not a lease with no term. How the rent is paid decides it.
“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. However, even though a monthly rent is paid, and no period for the lease has been set, the courts may fix a longer term for the lease after the lessee has occupied the premises for over one year.”
The same article lets a court fix a longer term once the tenant has been there over a year. That is the court’s call, not yours and not theirs.
The fifteen days
“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.”
Read the last line carefully. The new lease is not a repeat of the original term — it takes the length given by Articles 1682 and 1687 — but the other terms of the original contract come back with it.
What this costs you if you leave it
None of this is law. It is what the two articles above come to in practice.
- Say in writing, before the end date, whether the lease is ending or continuing — silence is the thing that creates the new lease
- Accepting rent for a period after the end date is the clearest form of acquiescence there is
- If you are renewing, renew on paper. A lease that came into existence by default carries the old terms, including any you meant to change
- If you are not renewing, the end date is not the eviction. Grounds and procedure are separate, and they are in “Ending a lease”
A tenant reading the same articles is reading the same page as you — it is at “Moving out”. We do not write one version for each side.
This page quotes the law and links to the source. It is information, not legal advice, and it is not written for any one person’s situation. For your own case, go to your barangay or to a lawyer.
Law text checked 2026-08-09