House International Building Tenants Association, Inc. vs IAC, GR No. 75287, June 30, 1987
Subject: Obligations and Contracts
Facts
To secure payment of his obligation to the GSIS, FA
mortgaged a parcel of land and a 14-storey building on said land. After the
GSIS foreclosed the mortgage and after it had consolidated ownership in its
name (i.e., after FA failed to redeem the property), the GSIS sold the property
to CENTERTOWN under a deed of conditional sale, without notice to the tenants
of the building and without securing prior clearance of the Ministry of Human
Settlements. Because CENTERTOWN is not authorized to engage in real estate
business, it organized a sister corporation, TOWERS, to engage in real estate
business. Later, CENTERTOWN assigned to TOWERS all its rights and obligations
under the Deed of Conditional Sale, with the consent and approval of the GSIS.
The association of tenants of the building sued CENTERTOWN, TOWERS, and GSIS for annulment of the deed of
conditional sale and the subsequent assignment of the sale by CENTERTOWN to
TOWERS, on the ground that the sale is VOID ab initio because it is ultra
vires, since CENTERTOWN is not qualified to acquire real estate or engage in
real estate transactions, and also because "its consideration is
illicit" pursuant to Art. 1409.
Issue
Whether or not the House International Building
Tenants Association is a proper party to file a case for the annulment of conditional
sale
Ruling
No.
Under Article 1397 of the Civil Code, the action for
the annulment of contracts may be instituted by all who are thereby obliged
principally or subsidiarily.
In this case, the association is not a party nor a privy
to the deed of conditional sale and therefore, it cannot assail the validity of
the said contracts.
No comments:
Post a Comment