Short answer. Yes. Article 2107 provides that the pledgee is bound to advise the pledgor, without delay, of any danger to the thing pledged. So a pawnshop that learns your pledged item is at risk of destruction or damage must tell you promptly, so you can act to protect what is, after all, still your own property.
What the law says
The pledgee is bound to advise the pledgor, without delay, of any danger to the thing pledged.
Civil Code, Article 2107 — Substitution on Danger Without Fault. Read the full provision →
What the law says
If there are reasonable grounds to fear the destruction or impairment of the thing pledged, without the fault of the pledgee, the pledgor may demand the return of the thing, upon offering another thing in pledge, provided the latter is of the same kind as the former and not of inferior quality
Civil Code, Article 2107 — Substitution on Danger Without Fault. Read the full provision →
Yes — the pawnshop must warn you
Article 2107 ends with a duty aimed straight at the pledgee — here, the pawnshop. It says: The pledgee is bound to advise the pledgor, without delay, of any danger to the thing pledged. Although the shop holds your item as security for the loan, the item remains yours, and you are the person with the most to lose if it is destroyed or damaged. So when the pawnshop has reason to know your pledged property is at risk — from fire, flood, deterioration or anything else — it cannot stay silent. It must tell you without delay, while you can still do something about it.
Why the warning matters: your right to substitute
The warning is not an empty courtesy; it lets you exercise a real right the same article gives you. If there are reasonable grounds to fear the destruction or impairment of the thing pledged, without the fault of the pledgee, the pledgor may demand the return of the thing, upon offering another thing in pledge, provided the latter is of the same kind as the former and not of inferior quality. In other words, when your pawned item is genuinely in danger, you may ask for it back and put up a replacement as security instead. Without a prompt warning, you might never learn of the danger in time to swap the item out and save it.
The conditions on swapping the item
The right to substitute comes with fair conditions, so the pawnshop's security is not weakened. The replacement you offer must be of the same kind as the original and not of inferior quality. You cannot demand a valuable item back while handing over something worth far less; the substitute must genuinely stand in the place of the original as security for the debt. The provision balances two interests — your wish to rescue an endangered item, and the pledgee's need to keep holding something of equivalent value until the loan is paid off.
The limits of the rule
This substitution right assumes the danger arose without the fault of the pledgee; the rule is about protecting property from outside peril, not about a pawnshop's own mishandling, for which other rules on the pledgee's diligence apply. The article also preserves the pledgee's rights under the following provision, so exercising your swap does not strip the pawnshop of its remedies. The duty to warn, though, stands on its own: whatever the source of the danger, the pledgee must speak up without delay once it appears.