Short answer. Yes, but only to avoid an imminent danger, and only after he has been told. Article 1663 obliges the lessee to advise the owner urgently of the need for repairs, and provides that if the lessor fails to make urgent repairs the lessee may order them at the lessor's cost.

What the law says

If the lessor fails to make urgent repairs, the lessee, in order to avoid an imminent danger, may order the repairs at the lessor's cost.

Civil Code, Article 1663 — Lessee's Duty to Notify. Read the full provision →

The remedy is real but narrow

Article 1663 closes with the sentence tenants are looking for: If the lessor fails to make urgent repairs, the lessee, in order to avoid an imminent danger, may order the repairs at the lessor's cost. Every phrase in it limits the right. The repair must be urgent, the lessor must have failed to make it, and the purpose must be to avoid an imminent danger. A leaking pipe threatening to bring down a ceiling qualifies. Peeling paint, a door that sticks and a shower that runs cold do not, however long they have been reported and however unreasonable the landlord has been about them.

Notice comes first, and it is an obligation

The same article makes the tenant a watchman for the property. He must bring to the owner's knowledge, within the shortest possible time, every usurpation or untoward act a third person has committed or is openly preparing to carry out on the thing leased, and must advise the owner with the same urgency of the need for repairs falling under the lessor's duty to keep the property fit for its use. This is not a formality. The article adds that in both cases the lessee is liable for damages suffered by the proprietor through his negligence, so a tenant who stays silent while a problem worsens can end up paying for it.

The landlord's underlying duty

The obligation you are enforcing is in Article 1654, which requires the lessor to make during the lease all the necessary repairs to keep the property suitable for the use to which it has been devoted, unless there is a stipulation to the contrary. That last clause matters: leases often shift minor or interior repairs to the tenant, and where they do, the repair may not be the lessor's to make at all. Read the lease before spending, because a repair the contract puts on you cannot be charged back however urgent it was.

Do it in a way you can prove

Charging the cost back is easy to state and hard to collect on a bare assertion. Report the defect in writing, describe the danger rather than the inconvenience, and give the landlord a clear opportunity to act before you engage anyone. Then keep the dated photographs, the tradesman's assessment of the risk, the official receipt in your name and the itemised scope of work. If the amount is disputed and rent is still running, note that Article 1658 lets a lessee suspend payment where the lessor fails to make the necessary repairs, which is a different route to the same pressure.

Cases citing this provision

These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.

Related provisions

Note. Statute text quoted on this page is reproduced from the official enactment and is linked to the full provision. The explanation around it is general legal information from Vivas & Nobles Law Office, not legal advice. Whether it applies to your situation depends on facts only a lawyer reviewing them can assess.