ART. 1620.
A co-owner of a thing may interest sold by A, each of them shall pay
exercise the right of redemption in case
the shares of all the other co-owners or
of any of them, are sold to a third
person. If the price of the alienation is
grossly excessive, the redemptioner
shall pay only a reasonable one. Should
two or more co-owners desire to
exercise the right of redemption, they
may only do so in proportion to the
share they may respectively have in the
thing owned in common.
Right of Legal Redemption of Co-Owner
The right of legal redemption among co-
owners presupposed of course, the
existence of a co-ownership.
Requisites:
(1) There must be co-ownership of a thing;
(2) There must be alienation of all or of
any of the shares of the other co-owners;
(3) The sale must be to a third person or
stranger (Art. 1620.),i.e., a non-co-owner;
(4) The sale must be before partition.
The right of a co-owner to legal
redemption is based on his status as
such independently of the size of his
share.
It can no longer be invoked where
there had been an actual partition of
the property so that co-ownership no
longer exists.
Redemption by a co-owner within
the period prescribed by law (see
Art. 1623.) inures to the benefit of all
the other co-owners.
Example:
(1) A, B, and C are co-owners of an
undivided property valued at P500,000. A
sells his interest to D for P200,000.
B or C may exercise the right of
redemption by reimbursing D the price of
the sale. If both B and C redeem the
P100,000.00 to D, which is the proportion of
their respective shares in the co-ownership.
If the price of P200,000.00 is grossly
excessive, the same may be equitably
reduced by the court.
(2) The property inherited by A, B, and C,
heirs, were mortgaged by X, decedent,
during his lifetime, to D. The redemption of
the whole property by C with his own
personal funds does not vest in him sole
ownership over said property but will inure
to the benefit of all co-owners. In other
words, it will not put an end to the lasting
state of co-ownership. Redemption is not
a mode of terminating a co-ownership
(See illustrative case p.443)
Doctrine: Within the meaning of Article
1620, the term third person or
stranger refers to all persons who are
not heirs in succession, and by heirs are
meant only those who are called either by
will or the law to succeed the deceased and
who actually succeeds. In short, a third
person is any one who is not a co-owner.
By whom and against whom right may
be exercised
1. A co-owner has the legal right to
sell, assign, or mortgage his ideal
share in the property held in
common. (see Art. 493.) By the very
nature of the right of legal
redemption, a co-owners right to
redeem is invoked only after the
shares of the other co-owners are
sold to a third party or stranger
2. Co-owners have no right of legal
redemption against each other to
whom the law grants the same
privilege, but only against a third
person.
A third person, within the meaning of
Article 1620, is anyone who is not a
 co-owner. Article 1620 is intended
to minimize co-ownership.
3. Should any of the heirs sell his
hereditary right to a stranger before
partition, any or all of the co-heirs
may be subrogated to the rights of
the purchaser by reimbursing him
for the purchase price, provided it
be done within the period of one (1)
month to be counted from the time
they were notified in writing of the
sale by the vendor. (Art. 1088.)
Once the portion corresponding to
each heir is fixed, the co-heirs turn
into co-owners and their right of
legal redemption should be
governed by Articles 1620 and 1623.
When right cannot be invoked
Article 1620 applies only if the co-
ownership still exists
-It presupposes the existence of a co-
ownership at the time the conveyance is
made by a co-owner and when it is
demanded by the other co-owners.
Price of redemption.
1. Thing owned in common
partitioned. The right given to a
co-heir or co-owner by Article 1620
in case any of the other coheirs or
co-owners sells his share to a third
person cannot be invoked where
the sale was made after the
properties owned in common had
been partitioned, judicially or
extra-judicially.
If a plan of partition has been agreed
upon though not approved at the
time of the sale, its approval by the
court relates back to the date of the
plan, and property sold after such
date is not subject to legal
redemption.
2. Shares of all co-owners sold.
The provision covers the case where
some or one of the co-owners
sell(s) their/his share(s) in the
property owned in common but
not the case where all the co-owners
have sold their shares
3. Thing owned in common had
been offered for sale by all co-
owners. Neither can the right be
invoked where the petitioners,
together with the other co-owners,
had previously offered for sale the
entire property and after the
respondent agreed to purchase the
same and advanced a considerable
amount of money, said petitioners
wanted to renege on their
agreement to sell and instead,
offered to redeem from the
respondent portion of the property
sold by the other co-owners to the
respondent.
1. Reasonable price- The law requires
the redemptioner to pay only a
reasonable price if the price of the
alienation is grossly excessive.
This is to prevent collusion between
the buyer and the selling co-owner.
The right of the redemptioner to pay
a reasonable price does not excuse
him from the duty to make proper
tender of the price that can be
honestly deemed reasonable under
the circumstances, without prejudice
to final arbitration by the courts, nor
does it authorize said redemptioner
to demand that the vendee accept
payment by installments. There is no
 legal redemption in case of a mere continue to be so whether they be
least. the original co-owners or their
successors.
2. Price stated in the deed of sale
The practice of understating the
consideration of transactions for the
purpose of evading taxes and fees
due the government is violative of
public policy and injurious to public
interest and must be condemned
and the parties guilty thereof must
be made to suffer the consequences
of their ill-advised agreements to
defraud the State.
In a case where only P30,000 was
the price stated in the deed of sale
of the interest of a co-owner in a
piece of land to minimize the
payment of the registration fees,
stamps and sales tax, the court
ruled that the co-owner exercising
the right of legal redemption should
pay only P30,000, although much
more had been paid by the buyer.
3. Amount actually paid by the buyer
If by false representations the buyer
obtains from the redemptioner an
amount (e.g., P100,000) greater
than the price which he actually paid
(e.g., P80,000), the co-owner who
made the repurchase can recover
from the buyer the difference
(P20,000) in an appropriate action.

Purpose of the grant of right to co-

owners
Reduce the number of participants
until the community is done away
with, as being a hindrance to the
development and better
administration of the property. This
reason exists while the community
subsists and the participants