Short answer. Yes. Article 696 of the Civil Code makes every successive owner or possessor who fails or refuses to abate a nuisance started by a former owner liable for it in the same manner as whoever originally created it — buying the property does not free you from responsibility for a nuisance you knowingly let continue.
What the law says
Every successive owner or possessor of property who fails or refuses to abate a nuisance in that property started by a former owner or possessor is liable therefor in the same manner as the one who created it.
Civil Code, Article 696 — Liability Of Successive Owners. Read the full provision →
Liability follows the failure to abate, not just the creating
Article 696 does not limit liability to whoever originally caused the nuisance. It reaches every successive owner or possessor who fails or refuses to abate it. The trigger for your own liability is not that you built or started the problem — it is that the nuisance exists on property you now own and you have not corrected it. Buying the property after the nuisance already existed does not remove you from the article's reach.
What 'liable in the same manner' means
The article puts a successive owner who fails to abate on the same footing as the original creator: liable in the same manner as the one who created it. That is a strong equivalence — the statute does not describe a lesser or secondary form of responsibility for someone who merely inherited the problem through a purchase. Once you own or possess the property and the nuisance continues on your watch, the law does not distinguish your liability from that of whoever started it.
Failing and refusing are both covered
The article covers two distinct situations: failing to abate, which can include simple inaction or not knowing what to do about it, and refusing to abate, which is a deliberate choice not to act. Either one is enough to trigger liability under this article — you do not need to have actively resisted fixing the problem for the article to apply; passive neglect of an existing nuisance on your property is treated the same way.
What this means for a new owner
If you discover, after buying, that a nuisance the previous owner created is still affecting the property, treat abating it as your responsibility going forward rather than something you can point back at the seller to avoid. Document what the nuisance is, when you became aware of it, and what steps you take to address it, since that record matters both for your own liability under this article and for any separate claim you might have against the seller for what you were sold.