Short answer. Yes, but not unconditionally. The Civil Code allows a usufructuary to be excused from making an inventory or from giving security when no one will be injured by the excuse. The waiver is available whatever the source of the usufruct, and it stands or falls on that condition.
What the law says
The usufructuary, whatever may be the title of the usufruct, may be excused from the obligation of making an inventory or of giving security, when no one will be injured thereby.
Civil Code, Article 585 — Waiver of Inventory or Security. Read the full provision →
What the two obligations are for
Before enjoying the property, a usufructuary is ordinarily required to do two things. He makes an inventory — a listing of the immovables and an appraisal of the movables — which fixes what he received and in what condition. And he gives security, a bond or equivalent guarantee that he will look after the property and return it when the usufruct ends. Both exist for the same reason: the usufructuary will hold someone else's property for years, and when the time comes to give it back there has to be an agreed record of what was handed over and a fund to answer for what was damaged, consumed or lost.
The condition that controls the waiver
The article does not say the obligations may be dropped whenever the parties agree. It says the usufructuary may be excused when no one will be injured thereby. That is a real test with a wider reach than the two parties at the table. The people who can be injured include the owner and whoever will succeed to the property, but also creditors whose security is the property itself, co-owners, and other heirs who will one day have to prove what the estate contained. It is precisely because the harm may fall on someone not present that the waiver cannot be treated as a purely private favour between an owner and a relative.
Why waiving is riskier than it feels
The inventory in particular is worth more to both sides than it appears at the start. Years later, when the usufruct ends and the property has to be returned, the absence of any record turns an accounting into an argument — was the roof already leaking, were those six machines there at the beginning, what state was the land in. The usufructuary who was generously excused often turns out to be the one with no way to prove he handed back what he received. Where the property is significant, is held for a long term, or includes movables that wear out, doing the inventory serves the person being excused as much as the owner.
If a waiver is being proposed to you
Consider waiving the security while still doing the inventory — they are separate obligations in the text and can be treated separately, and the inventory is the cheaper of the two to keep. Put any excuse in writing, identify what is being excused, and record who else has an interest in the property, because that is the question the condition turns on. Where the usufruct comes from a will or a deed, read that instrument first; it may already speak to inventory and security. And where creditors, co-owners or other heirs exist, have the arrangement reviewed rather than assuming their silence is consent.