d. Light and View

Easement of Light and View

Concept

An easement of light and view concerns the use of openings facing adjoining property and, when an easement is established, the adjoining owner’s ability to obstruct them. The rules distinguish openings in a party wall from those in a wall belonging to the dominant estate. (Art. 668, Civil Code)¹ (Art. 669, Civil Code)²

Governing provisions

Article 668 fixes when the prescriptive period begins for an easement of light and view. Article 669 governs specified openings for light in a wall that is not a party wall. Article 671 states how the distance for direct and oblique views is measured. The general rules on classification, acquisition by title, indivisibility, and necessary works also bear on easements. (Art. 668, Civil Code)¹ (Art. 669, Civil Code)² (Art. 671, Civil Code)³ (Art. 615, Civil Code)⁴ (Art. 622, Civil Code)⁵ (Art. 618, Civil Code)⁶ (Art. 627, Civil Code)⁷

Requisites / Rules

• Where the distances prescribed in Article 670 are not observed, the owner may make openings to admit light in a wall that is not a party wall and that adjoins another’s property. The openings must be at the height of the ceiling joints or immediately below the ceiling, measure thirty centimeters square, and have both an iron grating embedded in the wall and a wire screen. (Art. 669, Civil Code)²
• For direct views, measure the applicable distance from the wall’s outer line if the opening does not project, or from the projecting opening’s outer line if it does. For oblique views, measure from the dividing line between the properties. (Art. 671, Civil Code)³
• Continuous nonapparent easements and discontinuous easements, whether apparent or not, may be acquired only by title. Whether an easement of light and view is positive or negative matters to the mode of acquisition. (Art. 622, Civil Code)⁵ (Garcia v. Santos, G.R. No. 228334, 21 September 2020)⁸

Distinctions

If the window is through a party wall, the prescriptive period is counted from its opening. If it is through a wall on the dominant estate, the period is counted from the formal prohibition upon the adjoining proprietor—not merely from the opening of the window. (Art. 668, Civil Code)¹

Key doctrines

In Garcia v. Santos, the Court found an easement of light and view established by title and ordered removal or renovation of obstructing portions of a building to observe the three-meter rule under Article 673. The case also emphasizes that the easement’s positive or negative character is consequential to how it is acquired. (Garcia v. Santos)⁸

An easement is indivisible: division of either estate does not, by itself, change the burden or permit use at a different place or in a more burdensome manner. The dominant owner may undertake necessary works on the servient estate at the dominant owner’s expense, with notice and in the manner least inconvenient to the servient owner, without altering or increasing the burden of the servitude. (Art. 618, Civil Code)⁶ (Art. 627, Civil Code)⁷

Exceptions

The adjoining owner may close Article 669 openings upon acquiring part-ownership of the wall, unless otherwise stipulated. The adjoining owner may also obstruct them by building on the adjoining land or raising a contiguous wall, unless an easement of light has been acquired. (Art. 669, Civil Code)²

Bar tip

Identify whose wall contains the opening before fixing the start of prescription. Do not treat an Article 669 opening as necessarily protected against obstruction; check whether an easement has been acquired. (Art. 668, Civil Code)¹ (Art. 669, Civil Code)²