Short answer. Only a proportionate share. Article 569 of the Civil Code provides that civil fruits — which include rents — are deemed to accrue daily and belong to the usufructuary in proportion to the time the usufruct lasts. The owner gets the share corresponding to the days before and after the usufruct.
What the law says
Civil fruits are deemed to accrue daily, and belong to the usufructuary in proportion to the time the usufruct may last.
Civil Code, Article 569 — Civil Fruits Accrue Daily. Read the full provision →
The daily-accrual rule for civil fruits
Article 569 establishes a simple, fair allocation rule for civil fruits in a usufruct. Civil fruits — which include rents from property, interest on debts owed to the usufructuary, and similar periodic income — are not treated as lump sums belonging entirely to whoever holds the usufruct when payment is made. Instead, the law deems them to accrue day by day. The usufructuary's share is determined by how many days the usufruct was in force relative to the total period over which the income accrued.
How the proportional split works in practice
Suppose a tenant pays annual rent at the start of each year, but the usufruct begins in the middle of that year. Under Article 569, the usufructuary does not receive the entire year's rent simply because the payment happened to be made while the usufruct was running. The rent is treated as if it accrued daily over the full year. The usufructuary's share covers only the days from when the usufruct started to when it ended. The naked owner — or whoever held the property before and after the usufruct — receives the corresponding shares for the remaining days.
Why rents are classified as civil fruits
Philippine civil law distinguishes between natural fruits, industrial fruits, and civil fruits. Civil fruits are those that arise from a juridical relation — typically a lease or a loan — rather than from the productive capacity of the land itself. Rental income is the most common example. Annual or periodic payments made under a contract are civil fruits by nature, and Article 569's daily-accrual rule is specifically designed for this category. Natural fruits of a usufruct are handled under different provisions that govern when and how they are attributed to the usufructuary.
Effect when the usufruct ends mid-period
The daily-accrual rule is equally important when the usufruct ends before the close of a rent period. If a usufruct expires in September but annual rent runs to December, the usufructuary does not keep the remaining months' worth of income. Whatever portion of the rent corresponds to the post-termination period reverts to the naked owner or the person entitled to the property. Parties dealing with usufructs — whether creating them or bringing them to an end — should account for this proportional division when settling final accounts between the usufructuary and the owner.