Short answer. Yes, if it is a home. The Civil Code says that when urgent repairs make the part of the premises you and your family need for dwelling uninhabitable, you may rescind the lease - provided the main purpose of the lease was to give you a dwelling place. Shorter disruptions instead reduce the rent.
What the law says
When the work is of such a nature that the portion which the lessee and his family need for their dwelling becomes uninhabitable, he may rescind the contract if the main purpose of the lease is to provide a dwelling place for the lessee.
Civil Code, Article 1662 — Urgent Repairs During the Lease. Read the full provision →
You must first tolerate urgent repairs
The starting point may feel unfair, but it is deliberate. If urgent repairs become necessary during the lease and cannot wait until it ends, the article says the lessee is obliged to tolerate the work, although it may be very annoying to him, and although during the same, he may be deprived of a part of the premises. Urgent repairs protect the property itself, so the tenant must put up with the inconvenience and even with losing the use of part of the place while the work goes on. The law does not let a tenant block necessary repairs simply because they are disruptive; the question is what relief the disruption earns you.
Long disruptions cut the rent
The Code balances that duty to tolerate with financial relief when the disturbance drags on. It provides that if the repairs last more than forty days the rent shall be reduced in proportion to the time — including the first forty days — and the part of the property of which the lessee has been deprived. So once the work runs past forty days, you do not keep paying full rent for a home you cannot fully use. The reduction is proportionate to both how long the disruption lasts and how much of the premises you lost, and notably it reaches back to include the first forty days, not just the excess.
When you can actually cancel
Cancellation is reserved for the serious case. The article allows it in these words: when the work is of such a nature that the portion which the lessee and his family need for their dwelling becomes uninhabitable, he may rescind the contract if the main purpose of the lease is to provide a dwelling place for the lessee. Two conditions must line up. First, the repairs must render the living space your household actually needs uninhabitable, not merely inconvenient. Second, the lease must be, at its core, a residential one — a place to live. Where both hold, the law recognises that a home you cannot live in defeats the whole point of the contract, and lets you walk away.
Judge your situation against those tests
Before treating the lease as ended, measure your facts against the statute. Is the disruption truly making the dwelling uninhabitable for your family, or is it a partial loss that instead calls for a rent reduction? Is the main purpose of your lease residential? These distinctions decide whether your remedy is rescission or merely a lower rent. Keep a record of the repairs, their duration, and which parts of the home became unusable. If you believe your home has been made unlivable and you want to end the lease, review the situation with a lawyer, since rescinding on shaky grounds can expose you to the landlord's claims.