Leaving looks simpler than it is. The date the lease ends is not always the date you think, and the deposit argument is decided by what you did in the last week.
When the lease actually ends
If your contract has an end date, that is the date. If nothing was ever fixed in writing, the law fills it in from how you pay.
“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.”
And if you stay on past the end without anyone saying otherwise, a new lease can come into existence by itself:
“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.”
Fifteen days is short. If you are leaving, say so in writing and keep the message — that is what stops the clock.
Before you hand back the keys
None of this is law. It is what decides the deposit argument, which is fought over things nobody wrote down.
- Photograph every room the day you leave, empty, in daylight — the same angles you took when you moved in, if you have them
- Photograph the electricity and water meters with the numbers readable
- Settle the final utility bills and keep the receipts, or agree in writing who pays the last one
- Return the unit in the condition the contract describes, and ask for the walkthrough to happen while you are still there
- Get the handover in writing — date, meter readings, what was returned, who received it
- Ask when the deposit will be returned and how, and get the answer in a message rather than in conversation
Photographs with a visible date are worth more than a description written weeks later. So is a message you sent at the time.
The deposit at the end
For units the Rent Control Act covers, the deposit is not supposed to sit in someone’s pocket for the length of the lease, and what it earns is yours.
“Neither can he/she demand more than two (2) months deposit which shall be kept in a bank under the lessor's account name during the entire duration of the lease agreement. Any and all interest that shall accrue therein shall be returned to the lessee at the expiration of the lease contract.”
The same section says when it can be kept, and ties the amount to the damage rather than leaving it open:
“In the event however, that the lessee fails to settle rent, electric, telephone, water or such other utility bills or destroys any house components and accessories, the deposits and interests therein shall be forfeited in favor of the latter in the amount commensurate to the pecuniary damage done by the former.”
Above the coverage line this section does not apply and the contract decides. What can be asked at signing, and what to do when nothing comes back, is in “Your deposit”.
If the person who showed you the unit was one of ours, tell us directly. We would rather hear it from you than not hear it at all.
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