Short answer. Yes. Under Article 2151, the owner is liable to reimburse even when no benefit was derived and there was no imminent danger to the property, provided the officious manager acted in good faith and the property is intact and ready to be returned. Good faith and an undamaged return satisfy the law's conditions.
What the law says
Even though the owner did not derive any benefit and there has been no imminent and manifest danger to the property or business, the owner is liable as under the first paragraph of the preceding article, provided: (1) The officious manager has acted in good faith, and (2) The property or business is intact, ready to be returned to the owner.
Civil Code, Article 2151 — Reimbursement Without Benefit or Danger. Read the full provision →
What negotiorum gestio is
Negotiorum gestio — the officious management of another's affairs — arises when a person voluntarily takes charge of another's property or business without any authority, when the owner is absent or unable to act, and without the owner's objection. The Civil Code recognizes that this can be a genuine service and creates obligations on both sides. The manager must act carefully and in the owner's best interest; the owner, in turn, must indemnify the manager for expenses incurred. Article 2151 extends this duty to cases where the conventional reasons for reimbursement — benefit and danger — are both absent.
The two conditions that substitute for benefit
The usual justification for owner liability is either that the owner benefited from the management or that the manager stepped in to prevent imminent harm to the property. Article 2151 dispenses with both justifications when two alternative conditions are met: the officious manager acted in good faith, and the property or business is intact and ready to be returned to the owner. If these two conditions exist, the owner's obligation to reimburse arises even without benefit and without any emergency.
Good faith is essential
Good faith requires that the manager genuinely believed the management was in the owner's interest and acted without any intent to cause harm or to gain personal benefit at the owner's expense. A manager who acted carelessly, deceitfully, or for personal gain would not satisfy this condition, even if the property was returned undamaged. The good faith element ensures that Article 2151 does not become a vehicle for imposing liability on owners whenever someone unilaterally manages their property, however unwelcome or improper the management might be.
What intact and ready to return means
The property must be intact — substantially in the same condition it was in when the management began — and ready to be returned to the owner. If the manager caused damage, even inadvertently, this condition may not be met. The requirement of readiness to return also implies that the manager is not seeking to retain possession or assert any lien beyond what the law allows. When both conditions are satisfied alongside good faith, the owner is obligated to indemnify the manager for the reasonable expenses incurred in managing the property, even if those expenses produced no concrete benefit.