Short answer. Yes. Under Article 2149 of the Civil Code, the owner's ratification of your management produces the effects of an express agency — even if the business was not profitable. From the point of ratification, the relationship is governed by the rules on agency, not by officious management.
What the law says
The ratification of the management by the owner of the business produces the effects of an express agency, even if the business may not have been successful.
Civil Code, Article 2149 — Ratification of the Management. Read the full provision →
What ratification does to the legal relationship
When you stepped in to manage the owner's business without being asked, the relationship was governed by negotiorum gestio — the quasi-contract of officious management. That imposed specific obligations on you and specific rights on the owner. But once the owner ratified the management by approving what you did, Article 2149 changes the character of the whole arrangement. The ratification produces the effects of an express agency. You are no longer an unsolicited manager — you are, from that point forward, treated as a formally authorised agent.
Why 'even if the business was not successful' matters
The statute includes an important qualifier: the ratification creates an agency relationship even if the business may not have been successful. This prevents an owner from accepting the benefit of good management while denying the relationship when things went poorly. If the owner's approval came after losses were incurred, that approval still carries the same legal weight as approval following a profitable period. The owner cannot ratify selectively — approving only the decisions that produced gains while treating unfavourable outcomes as outside the scope of the management.
What 'express agency' means for you
Express agency is the strongest form of the relationship: the principal has directly and openly confirmed the agent's authority. As an agent by ratification, your acts during the period of management bind the owner to third parties as if you had been authorised from the start. Going forward, the rules on agency govern your rights and obligations — including your right to reimbursement for necessary expenses, your duty to account for any property or funds received, and the owner's ability to revoke or limit the authority. The quasi-contract rules of officious management no longer apply.
What the owner should understand about ratifying
An owner who ratifies the management is essentially confirming everything that was done on their behalf during the period of management. That means accepting liability for contracts the manager entered into with third parties, for expenses incurred, and for obligations created in the owner's name. Partial ratification — approving only some acts — is not addressed directly in Article 2149. The practical implication is that an owner should review the full scope of the management carefully before giving blanket approval, since that approval is treated as creating an agency over everything the manager did.