What is immovable property?

Article 415 of the New Civil Code provides for guidelines on whether property is immovable. The enumeration below does not provide a definition of what constitutes immovable property. As a result, the process of elimination should be used. If not included below, it is needed excluded, therefore, movable.

[1] Land, buildings, roads and constructions of all kinds adhered to the soil;

NOTE: Land is the best example of immovable property. Roads and buildings are attached to the soil so they are likewise immovable.

[2] Trees, plants, and growing fruits, while they are attached to the land or form an integral part of an immovable;

NOTE: Trees and plants are actually movable but they are deemed by law immovable as long as they form an integral part of an immovable (e.g. of land or of a building). Growing fruits are logically immovable while attached to an immovable tree.

[3] Everything attached to an immovable in a fixed manner, in such a way that it cannot be separated therefrom without breaking the material or deterioration of the object;

NOTE: If attachment to an immovable is in a fixed manner, the thing attached is also an immovable. Attachment is deemed "fixed" if separation or removal would result in breaking of the material or deterioration of the object.

[4] Statues, reliefs, paintings or other objects for use or ornamentation, placed in buildings or on lands by the owner of the immovable in such a manner that it reveals the intention to attach them permanently to the tenements;

NOTE: Statues, reliefs, paintings and other ornaments are obviously and factually movable. However, the law looks into the intention of the owner of the immovable who has placed them thereon. Therefore, ornaments are immovable if the intention is to attach them permanently to the building or the tenements.

[5] Machinery, receptacles, instruments or implements intended by the owner of the tenement for an industry or works which may be carried on in a building or on a piece of land, and which tend directly to meet the needs of the said industry or works;

NOTE: Pieces of machinery, if placed by the owner on an immovable and with the intention of using them for an industry o work carried out thereon, are deemed by law as immovable as long as the needs of said industry or works are directly met by said machinery. Hence, a power generator placed by the owner on his land or in his building, used only whenever electric supply is down, cannot be considered immovable unless the attachment is so fixed that separation or removal would result in breaking of the material or deterioration of the object.

[6] Animal houses, pigeon-houses, beehives, fish ponds or breeding places of similar nature, in case their owner has placed them or preserves them with the intention to have them permanently attached to the land, and forming a permanent part of it; the animals in these places are included;

NOTE: The law considers as immovable the animals in breeding places.[7] Fertilizer actually used on a piece of land;

NOTE: Fertilizer actually applied on a piece of land is immovable. Hence, fertilizer NOT yet applied (i.e. still in its container) is movable.

[8] Mines, quarries, and slag dumps, while the matter thereof forms part of the bed, and waters either running or stagnant;

NOTE: The slag dumps must still form part of the bed. Waters either moving or not are immovable. The -s in "waters" means that the provision refers to bodies of water, not just water itself. Hence, water in a water bottle is movable.

[9] Docks and structures which, though floating, are intended by their nature and object to remain at a fixed place on a river, lake, or coast;

NOTE: Here, the intent by reason of nature and object is what makes the structure immovable. A house on the sea, though floating, if permanently tethered, is immovable. Remember that the sea itself is deemed immovable by [8].

[10] Contracts for public works, and servitudes and other real rights over immovable property.

NOTE: Contracts over immovable property are immovable.