Short answer. Extraordinary repairs are at the owner's expense, not the usufructuary's. The usufructuary's role is limited to notifying the owner once the need for such repairs becomes urgent, so the owner can act on it, but the cost itself does not fall on the person merely using the property.
What the law says
Extraordinary repairs shall be at the expense of the owner. The usufructuary is obliged to notify the owner when the need for such repairs is urgent.
Civil Code, Article 593 — Extraordinary Repairs Are the Owner's. Read the full provision →
Extraordinary repairs fall on the owner
Article 593 is direct about who pays: extraordinary repairs shall be at the expense of the owner. Major structural work to the property — the kind that goes beyond routine upkeep — is treated as the owner's financial responsibility, not something the usufructuary is expected to fund out of their own pocket simply because they are the one using and enjoying the property.
The usufructuary's obligation is to notify, not to pay
The article gives the usufructuary a specific duty in this situation: to notify the owner when the need for such repairs is urgent. This is a duty to communicate, not a duty to finance the work. The usufructuary is in the best position to notice a structural problem developing, so the law puts the responsibility to flag it on them, while keeping the cost on the owner.
Why this notification duty matters in practice
Because the owner is the one who has to pay, they need to know when urgent structural repairs are needed in order to act. If the usufructuary fails to notify the owner and damage worsens as a result, that failure could matter to how any resulting loss is treated — even though the underlying obligation to pay for the extraordinary repair itself remains the owner's under this article.
Why the burden is split this way
A usufruct gives someone the use and enjoyment of another's property, not ownership of it, so the law does not ask the usufructuary to fund improvements or major structural work that will outlast their own interest and ultimately benefit the owner's asset. Ordinary, day-to-day upkeep is a different matter and typically falls on whoever is using the property, but Article 593 draws the line at extraordinary repairs specifically, keeping those with the person who actually owns the property long-term.
What happens if the owner does not act on the notice
Article 593's neighboring provisions fill in what follows the notice. Ordinary repairs, needed because of everyday wear and required to preserve the thing, are the usufructuary's job to begin with, and an owner may step in and do them at the usufructuary's expense if the usufructuary fails to after being asked. For the extraordinary repairs Article 593 itself covers, if the owner does pay for them, the owner may charge the usufructuary legal interest on that amount for as long as the usufruct lasts; but if the owner ignores an urgent need despite the notice, the usufructuary may make the repairs and later recover, at the end of the usufruct, the increase in value the property gained from that work.