2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-EIGHT - Public Lands (§§ 1 — 737) › PART II - Land Authority (§§ 241 — 512) › Chapter 37 - Proportional Profit Farms (Title IV of Land Law) › Subchapter I - Leases (§§ 461 — 463) › § 463 - Lease of proportional profit farms—Operation

Said proportional profit farms shall operate as follows:
The Authority shall fix by contract with the lessee the conditions of the lease, which shall, in addition to such other conditions as the Authority may stipulate, not in conflict with the provisions hereof or with the spirit of this part, be as follows:
(a) That the lessee shall cede in usufruct, under rules to be made by the Authority, and without any pecuniary consideration, parcels of an area of from one to three acres of land, to each one of the families of the laborers residing on the farm at the time of its acquisition by the Land Authority, and who still are residents thereof at the time of the signing of the lease to the lessee, or of the laborers regularly engaged thereat; Provided, That the Authority may not require this in the contract of lease for certain specified farms where the efficiency of utilization of the land may so demand, or when lands have been acquired in the vicinity of the farm to establish a community of the kind created under Title V of this act. The fruits of these parcels shall be wholly for the families having the usufruct thereof, but nothing shall be cultivated thereon which may compete with the produce or main products of the farms, except upon express permission of the Authority.
(b) That laborers working on that part of the farm not ceded with these parcels shall receive for each day’s work or part thereof, as an advance, the regular wage commonly paid in that particular zone, or that which may be stipulated by law, and each laborer shall be entitled to receive, on a specified date or dates each year, a proportional part of the net profits of the farm in proportion to the wages or salary he has received as an advance on his labor on said farm. This provision of the contract shall include not only the laborers having parcels on the farm, but all such laborers as well who at any time may work on the farm by order of the lessee. The Authority shall include in all contracts of lease of this nature, a clause providing that the legal working day shall be in effect on farms, and directing the lessee to pay for extra hours of work according to legislation in force.
(c) That the laborers residing on the farm shall be absolutely free to work or not on said farm, and to work in any other proportional profit farm or anywhere else.
(d) That the lessee shall manage the farm subject to the conditions of the contract and shall reside thereon, and shall not transfer, assign, sublease, encumber, or otherwise dispose of, or alienate, his interest or rights thereunder, and any such attempted disposition shall be null and void and shall be sufficient ground for terminating the contract with the lessee, including all rights accruing thereunder.
(e) That the lessee shall have full power to contract or not for the services of the laborers residing on the farm or any other laborers.
(f) That the lessee shall receive the current salary or the salary fixed by law for works of this nature, plus a bonus additional, in proportion to the salary fixed, in the event that the farm returns a profit.
(g) That the lessee shall, in addition, pay the Authority, such percent of the gross income of the farm as the Authority may determine for supervision, accounting and auditing expenses. The accounting and auditing shall be carried out on the basis of a simple and efficient system to be established by the Authority and the Secretary of the Treasury of Puerto Rico.
(h) That the lessee shall pay the Authority the rentals fixed by the latter in the contract.
(i) That where the Authority furnishes the lessee, as it is hereby authorized to furnish, with the animals or mechanical and technical implements for an efficient cultivation of the soil, the cost of the use thereof shall be added to the rentals of the lease.
(j) That the accounts shall be kept in the manner determined by the Authority with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury of Puerto Rico, as above provided.
(k) That the rentals of the lease shall be paid annually by the lessee on a fixed date to be agreed upon in the contract, and shall not be for less than the amount sufficient to cover in forty (40) years the price paid for the farm by the Authority and the interest thereon, computed on the basis of an amortization over a period of forty (40) years and in harmony with the obligations incurred by the Authority by reason of the bonds issued thereby, as provided elsewhere in §§ 241 et seq. of this title.
(l) That the lessee shall pay to the Authority the premium that the Authority may determine to secure payment of any crop loan made to the Farm by the Authority, or by any public or private entity with the Authority’s surety, for agricultural purposes and the grinding of its canes.
History —Apr. 12, 1941, No. 26, p. 388, § 65; May 11, 1942, No. 197, p. 996, §§ 17—19; May 15, 1943, No. 202, p. 720; Mar. 29, 1945, No. 6, p. 24; Apr. 4, 1946, No. 272, p. 572; May 13, 1947, No. 356, p. 684; May 7, 1948, No. 113, p. 272; May 14, 1949, No. 371, p. 1132; May 28, 1954, No. 46, p. 260, § 7; Sept. 28, 1954, No. 3, p. 36, § 1; June 6, 1957, No. 23, p. 50; June 27, 1958, No. 131, p. 315, § 10; June 9, 1959, No. 19, p. 77, § 1.