Short answer. Generally yes, but only if you notified the lender before spending the money. Article 1949 requires the bailee to bring extraordinary preservation expenses to the knowledge of the bailor before incurring them — unless the danger was so urgent that waiting for a reply would have put the thing at risk.
What the law says
The bailor shall refund the extraordinary expenses during the contract for the preservation of the thing loaned, provided the bailee brings the same to the knowledge of the bailor before incurring them, except when they are so urgent that the reply to the notification cannot be awaited without danger.
Civil Code, Article 1949 — Extraordinary Expenses in Commodatum. Read the full provision →
The general rule: notify before you spend
Article 1949 divides extraordinary expenses into two situations. The first is preservation expenses that arise not from use but from circumstances — a termite infestation, an unexpected flood, or another threat to the thing itself. For these, the lender must reimburse you, but only if you brought the situation to the lender's knowledge before incurring the expense. The prior-notification requirement is not a technicality; it gives the lender the chance to decide how to respond, whether to authorize a specific repair approach, or even to take the thing back. If you spent without telling the lender and there was time to ask, you risk bearing the cost yourself.
The urgency exception
The statute recognizes that some threats move faster than a message can travel. If the situation was so urgent that waiting for the lender's reply would have put the thing in danger, you may act first and seek reimbursement after. A rapidly spreading termite infestation that would have destroyed the piano within hours, if that was genuinely the case, could fall here. The burden will be on you to show the urgency was real — courts look at whether a reasonable person in your position would have waited. Document the timeline: when you discovered the problem, what would have happened if you delayed, and what you did.
Expenses arising from actual use
Article 1949 also covers a second category: extraordinary expenses that arise on the occasion of the actual use of the thing, even if you acted without fault. For these, the law splits the cost equally between lender and bailee, unless the parties agreed otherwise. This is different from the first category — use-related extraordinary expenses are shared, not borne entirely by the lender. If the piano suffered an unexpected structural failure while you were playing it at a concert (not from a pre-existing condition), the fifty-fifty split likely applies unless your contract with the lender said something else.
Practical steps to protect your claim
For your termite situation: if you notified the lender before calling the fumigator, keep that communication. If you could not reach the lender and the infestation was urgent, document why there was no time to wait — photos, dates, professional assessments from the exterminator about the speed of the damage. Keep all receipts. Send the lender a written demand for reimbursement once the work is done, attaching the documentation. If the lender refuses, the dispute becomes a civil claim; your documentation is what supports it.