Libro Segundo Título III. Usufructo, uso y habitación

The natural and civil fruits that the property produces ordinarily and extraordinarily belong to the usufructuary, save the limitations established in the title in which it is constituted.

The usufruct is constituted by contract or by an act of last will.

The usufruct may be established for a fixed term, for life, outright or subject to condition, but not in perpetuity, and over every kind of movable property and immovable property.

It may likewise be established in favor of legal persons, or of one or several natural persons, simultaneously or successively.

In the case of successive enjoyment, the usufruct shall benefit only those persons who exist when the prior usufructuary's right ends.

When no period for its duration is fixed in the creation of the usufruct, it is deemed constituted for the entire life of the usufructuary. A usufruct that is not for life and one constituted in favor of legal persons may not exceed thirty years, except where national property is involved, in which case it may be for up to fifty years.

If usufruct is constituted in favor of several persons simultaneously, whether by inheritance or by contract, there is no right of accretion if the constitutor has not established it clearly and expressly.

The creditors of the usufructuary may attach the products of the usufruct and oppose any assignment or renunciation thereof made in fraud of those creditors.

Natural fruits pending at the time of commencement of the usufruct belong to the usufructuary, save for the obligations to which such fruits were previously subject. Those pending at the time of extinguishment of the usufruct belong to the owner.

The owner of the pending fruits upon the constitution or termination of the usufruct is the one who must pay the cultivation expenses of the corresponding rural year.

Civil fruits belong to the usufructuary day by day.

The usufructuary of movable things that wear out and deteriorate slowly with use has the right to use them according to their nature and purpose; and at the end of the usufruct, is not obligated to return them except in the condition in which they are found, being liable only for those losses or deteriorations arising from intent or fault.

The usufruct of an estate extends to its forests and groves, but the usufructuary must preserve them and replace the trees felled, subjecting the exploitation to the provisions of the forestry laws.

If the usufruct comprises things that cannot be used without being consumed, the usufructuary is obliged to restore them in the same genus, quantity and quality; and if this should not be possible, to pay their value if they had been given appraised, or their current price at the time the usufruct ceases, if they were not appraised.

If the usufruct is constituted over capitals placed at interest, the usufructuary makes this his own and not those; but in any novation or agreement that modifies the original obligation, the consent of the usufructuary is required.

The usufructuary may enjoy the increase occurring by accession to the thing subject to usufruct, the servitudes and, in general, all the rights that the owner would enjoy. He also enjoys the product of the mines and quarries that are being exploited at the commencement of the usufruct, which belonged to the owner, but not that of new mines that are discovered, nor treasure that is found.

The usufructuary may himself enjoy the thing subject to usufruct, lease it to another, and alienate his usufruct right, except as provided in Article 708, but all contracts that he enters into as such usufructuary shall terminate at the end of the usufruct.

The usufructuary shall have no right to be paid for improvements he may have made to the property held in usufruct, but he shall have the right to have them set off against deterioration attributable to him. With respect to improvements separable without detriment to the property, the usufructuary may remove them if the owner does not pay him their value. The provisions of this article shall be understood without prejudice to agreements entered into by the usufructuary and the owner relating to improvements, or to what may have been provided on this matter in the establishment of the usufruct.

Once the usufruct is assigned to a third party, the assignor and the assignee shall be jointly and severally liable to the owner of the thing subject to usufruct.

The usufructuary may not constitute perpetual easements over the property he holds in usufruct; those he constitutes shall cease upon termination of the usufruct.

The usufructuary shall take the things in the state in which they are found; but he may not enter into possession of them without making a prior inventory of the movables and a description of the state of the immovables, with citation of the owner.

Expenses inherent in this act shall be borne by the usufructuary. When the usufructuary has been relieved of the obligations addressed in this article, the owner shall have the right to have them carried out at his expense.

The usufructuary must guarantee the good use of their right, to the satisfaction of the owner.

The donor with reservation of usufruct and the person who has been exempted from such obligation by the institutor are not obligated to provide guarantee.

If the usufructuary does not provide security in the cases in which he must give it, the owner may require that the immovables be placed in administration, that the movables be sold, that public securities, nominative and bearer credit instruments, be deposited in a bank or other credit institution, and that the capital or cash sums and the price of the alienation of the movable property be invested in safe securities.

The interest on the price of the movable things and of the public securities and securities, and the proceeds of the property placed in administration, belong to the usufructuary.

The owner may also, if he prefers, while the usufructuary has not furnished security or been exempted therefrom, retain in his possession the property of the usufruct, in his capacity as administrator, with the obligation to deliver to the usufructuary its net proceeds, deducting the sum agreed upon for such administration or judicially determined. The administrator may be removed for maladministration.

Delay in providing security does not deprive the usufructuary of the right to the fruits and he may at any time, respecting acts legally executed, claim the administration, upon providing the security that he is obligated to provide.

The usufructuary has the obligation to give security even when he was not obligated thereto by the constitutive title of the usufruct, if he abuses by causing deterioration to the estate or letting it be destroyed for lack of repair, as well as when, due to a change in the personal circumstances of the usufructuary, he does not offer the same assurances as at the time the usufruct was constituted.

The usufructuary must make the ordinary repairs indispensable for the preservation of the thing.

Extraordinary repairs shall be borne by the owner.

The usufructuary is obligated to give him notice when the need to make them is urgent.

Extraordinary repairs are those needed to restore or reinstate the property that has been ruined or deteriorated by old age, fortuitous event or accident not attributable to the usufructuary.

Failure to give timely notice to the owner makes the usufructuary liable for the destruction, loss or impairment of the thing due to lack of repairs.

If, due to the urgency of the case, prompt repair is necessary before giving notice to the owner, and the usufructuary carries it out, the usufructuary shall have the right to have its value paid to him, provided he gives notice immediately after beginning the work.

If the owner makes the extraordinary repairs, he shall have the right to demand from the usufructuary the legal interest on the amount invested therein, while the usufruct lasts.

If the owner does not make them when they are indispensable for the preservation of the thing, the usufructuary may make them, but he shall have the right to demand from the owner, upon termination of the usufruct, reimbursement of their value, without interest.

If the owner refuses to satisfy said amount, the usufructuary shall have the right to retain the thing until he is reimbursed with its products.

The provisions of the preceding articles also apply when, due to old age, or fortuitous event, the building that formed a necessary accessory for the enjoyment of the estate subject to usufruct is ruined only in part.

When the usufruct is by gratuitous title, the usufructuary is obliged to bear all the taxes and contributions encumbering the thing subject to usufruct; but if it was constituted by onerous title, the usufructuary shall only be obliged to pay the taxes that involve services for the enjoyment of the thing subject to usufruct.

The provisions of this article are without prejudice to what was agreed upon constitution of the usufruct.

If the estate is attached or judicially sold for payment of a debt of the owner, the usufruct shall not be prejudiced except by encumbrances or acts previously registered or annotated in the Property Register.

The usufructuary of a patrimony, or of a part of the patrimony, shall be obligated to full payment, or to payment proportional to his share, of all annual payments of life annuities, and of the interest on all debts or legacies encumbering the patrimony. When it concerns the payment of principal, if the usufructuary advances the amount with which the thing subject to usufruct must contribute, it shall be restored to him, without interest, upon termination of the usufruct.

If the usufructuary does not wish to make this advance, the owner shall have the right to choose between payment of the amount owed or having a portion of the property subject to the usufruct sold, up to the amount owed.

In the first case, the usufructuary must pay him interest during the usufruct.

If the rights of the owner are disturbed by a third party, in whatever manner and for whatever reason, the usufructuary is obligated to bring it to the knowledge of the former; and if he does not do so, he is liable for the resulting damage, as if it had been caused by his fault.

The expenses, costs and judgments from lawsuits pursued by reason of the usufruct are for the account of the owner, if the usufruct was constituted by onerous title; and for the account of the usufructuary, if it was constituted by gratuitous title.

If the lawsuit concerns at the same time both the owner and the usufructuary, they shall contribute to the expenses in proportion to their respective rights, if the usufruct was constituted by gratuitous title; but the usufructuary shall in no case be obligated to answer for more than what the usufruct produces.

If the usufruct is constituted over animals and they perish without fault of the usufructuary, he shall only be obligated to the owner to account for the skins or their value; but if the whole herd does not perish, the usufructuary shall be obligated to replace the dead animals with the offspring.

The usufruct is extinguished:

1°.By death of the usufructuary;

2°.By expiry of the time limit for which it was constituted, or by fulfillment of the resolutory condition to which the usufruct was subject;

3°.By merger of the usufruct and ownership in the same person; but if the merger occurs in a single thing or part of what was subject to usufruct, the usufruct shall subsist as to the remainder;

4°.By limitation period;

5°.By renunciation of the usufructuary, except as provided with respect to renunciations made in fraud of creditors;

6°.By loss of the thing subject to usufruct. If the destruction is not total, the right continues over the remainder; and

7°.By annulment or cessation of the right of the person who constituted the usufruct.

The usufruct may also cease due to abuse by the usufructuary of his right, deteriorating the property or letting it perish for lack of ordinary repairs. In this case, the extinction of the usufruct does not occur de facto, but must be declared by judicial decision.

In the same case, the owner may also opt to be placed in possession of the property, undertaking to pay to the usufructuary, periodically, the net proceeds thereof, deducting the administration fee, fixed in accordance with the law.

If the usufruct shall have been constituted over an estate of which a building forms part, and the latter should perish, in whatever manner, the usufructuary shall have the right to enjoy the land and the materials.

The same shall occur when the usufruct shall have been constituted only over a building and the latter should perish. In such case, if the owner should wish to construct another building, he shall have the right to occupy the land and to make use of the materials, remaining obligated to pay to the usufructuary, while the usufruct lasts, the interest on the sums corresponding to the value of the land and of the materials.

Temporary impediment, due to fortuitous event or force majeure, does not extinguish the usufruct, nor does it give the right to demand compensation from the owner.

The time of the impediment shall be deemed to have run for the usufructuary, to whom shall belong the fruits that the property under usufruct may produce during such time.

The usufruct granted for the time it takes a third party to reach a certain age shall subsist for the predetermined number of years; even if he dies before, unless the usufruct had been expressly granted solely in consideration of the existence of said third party.

If the usufructuary concurs with the owner in the insurance of the usufructed premises, the latter shall receive the insurance proceeds in case of loss, and the usufructuary shall continue in the enjoyment of the new building if it is built, or shall have the right to the interest on the proceeds if rebuilding does not suit the owner.

If the owner had refused to contribute to the insurance of the premises, the usufructuary establishing it by himself alone, the usufructuary shall acquire the right to receive in full, in case of loss, the insurance proceeds, but with the obligation to invest it in the reconstruction of the estate.

If the usufructuary had refused to contribute to the insurance, the owner establishing it by himself alone, the owner shall receive the entire insurance proceeds in case of loss.

If the thing subject to usufruct were expropriated on grounds of public utility, the owner shall be obliged to pay to the usufructuary the legal interest on the amount of the compensation he receives, for the entire time the usufruct is to last.

The usufructuary may demand that the owner guarantee payment of the interest.

Use confers the right to make use of a thing belonging to another or to take the fruits thereof, insofar as they suffice for the needs of the user and of his family.

Habitation is limited to what is necessary for the holder of the right and for his family, even if he did not have it at the time such right was constituted.

The rights of use and habitation are governed by the title that constitutes them. If the title does not determine the extent of such rights, they shall be governed in accordance with the following articles.

The rights of use and habitation may not be alienated, encumbered or leased.

To enjoy the rights of use and habitation, security must previously be provided and a formal inventory and description of the condition of the immovables must be made, with summons of the owner. With respect to security, the same provisions as for usufruct shall govern.

The rights of use and habitation are established and lost in the same manner as usufruct.

If a person who holds the use of an estate takes all of its fruits, or if a person who holds a right of habitation occupies the whole house, he shall be obliged to defray the expenses of cultivation or of ordinary repairs and to pay the taxes.

If he does not take more than a part of the fruits, or does not occupy more than a part of the house, he shall contribute in proportion to what he enjoys.