2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-THREE - Public Planning and Development (§§ 1 — 11273) › PART II - Economic Development (§§ 231-241 — 695i) › Chapter 24 - Land Administration (§§ 311 — 311s) › § 311m - Property—Procedure for acquisition, disposal

(a) In any proceedings which have been or may be instituted by and in the name of the Administration for the acquisition of land for the purposes specified in this chapter, the Administration may file in the same cause, at the time the petition is filed or at any time before judgment is rendered, a declaration of taking for the acquisition and material delivery of the property the object of condemnation, signed by the person or entity empowered by law to seek the condemnation in question, declaring that said property is sought for the use of the Administration. Said declaration of taking and material delivery shall contain and be accompanied by:
(1) A statement of the authority under which, and the public use for which, the acquisition of said property is sought.
(2) A description of the property sufficient for the identification thereof.
(3) A statement of the estate or interest in said property the acquisition of which is sought for the utilization purposes specified in this chapter.
(4) A plan, in the case of property which can be so represented.
(5) The fixing of the sum of money estimated by the Administration to be just compensation for the property the acquisition of which is sought.
(b) As soon as said declaration of taking and delivery is filed and the deposit is made in the court, for the benefit and use of the natural or artificial person or persons entitled thereto, of the amount estimated as compensation and specified in said declaration, title to the said property in fee simple absolute, or such less estate or interest therein as is specified in said declaration, shall vest in the Administration or in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as the case may be, and such property shall be deemed to be condemned and acquired for the use of the Administration or of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The right to just compensation for the property shall vest in the person or persons entitled thereto; and said compensation shall be ascertained and awarded in said proceeding and established by judgment therein; and the said judgment shall include, as part of the just compensation awarded, interest at the rate of six percent (6%) per annum on the amount finally awarded as the value of the property as of the date of taking, from said date to the date of payment; interest shall not be allowed on so much thereof as shall have been deposited and paid into the court. No sum so deposited and paid into the court shall be subject to any charge for any reason whatsoever.
(c) Upon application of the parties in interest, the court may order that the money deposited in the court, or any part thereof, be paid forthwith for or on account of the just compensation to be awarded in said proceeding. If the compensation finally awarded in respect to said property, or any part thereof, shall exceed the amount of the money so received by any entitled person, the court shall enter judgment against the Administration or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as the case may be, for the amount of the difference.
(d) Upon the filing of the declaration of taking, the court shall have power to fix the time within which, and the terms upon which, the natural or artificial persons in possession of the property the object of the proceeding shall surrender material possession to the expropriating party. The court shall have power to make such orders in respect to encumbrances, rentals, taxes, insurance and other charges, if any, burdening the property, as shall be just and equitable. No appeal in any such cause, nor any bond or undertaking given therein, shall operate to prevent or delay the acquisition by, or the vesting of the title to such property in, the Administration or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as the case may be, and its material delivery thereto.
(e) In any case in which the Administration shall have acquired title in fee simple to and the possession of any land and the structures located thereon, during the course of a condemnation proceeding, before final judgment is rendered, and in which the Administration is obliged to pay the amount finally awarded as compensation, the Administration shall have power to destroy such structures erected on said land.
(f) In case of condemnation of property for the purposes of this chapter, the just compensation shall be based on the value in the market of such property, without taking into consideration any increase in such value due to the condemnation project having been announced and publicized.
The valuation to be made shall not include any increase due to well-founded and reasonable expectation that the property to be acquired by the Administration or by the Commonwealth, or other property similar thereto, or situated within the locality where the former is situated, may now or later be required for public use or social benefit, or be necessary for some use to which it can be applied only by the Administration or the Commonwealth or any agency or instrumentality thereof with power for the condemnation of private property.
In case of condemnation, the just compensation shall likewise not include any new increase by reason of the public improvement or expenditures made in the locality by the Administration or the Commonwealth or any agency thereof, nor shall it include any increase by reason of any other work done by or at the initiative thereof, to effectuate the purposes of this chapter, when the increase be the result of plans or resolutions, officially adopted, for the acquisition of land for public works or for the purposes of this chapter.
(g) The provisions of Act No. 182, approved May 5, 1949, or Act No. 441, approved May 14, 1947, as amended, shall not apply in respect to the properties acquired by the Administration. In case of sale of real property acquired by condemnation and no longer useful for the purpose of this chapter or for the public purposes of the Commonwealth or any of its agencies, preference shall be given to the former owners of the condemned property, or in default thereof, to their forced heirs, subject to the conditions which the Administration may establish for the sale of said property. In no case, however, shall the Administration be obliged to sell to the former owner or to his heirs at a price lower than the market value of the property in question at the time it is sold by the Administration.
When the Administration shall determine that the acquired property or any part thereof is no longer useful for the purposes of this chapter or for the public purposes of the Commonwealth or its agencies, it shall notify the person or persons from whom said property was expropriated, or the forced heirs thereof, of their preferent right to reacquire such property. The notification, showing the price and conditions of the sale offer, shall be sent by registered mail, if the addresses of the interested parties are known; if unknown, the notification shall be by edicts, published in a newspaper of general circulation once a week for two (2) consecutive weeks. If the edict is published, it shall be presumed, subject to evidence to the contrary, that the address was unknown.
Upon expiration of the term of thirty (30) days from the notification by mail, or of forty (40) days from the publication of the last edict, which terms shall be unextendable, the Administration shall be at liberty to dispose of the property as best befits the public interest.
When the person or persons entitled to such preference accept, within the term prescribed by this action, the price and conditions of the sale, said person or persons shall be obliged to send to the Administration the amount of the value of the property, by certified check or in legal tender. If the aforesaid requisites are not complied with, acceptance of the preference shall have no validity whatsoever, and the Administration shall be entitled to dispose of the property as expressed in the preceding paragraph.
History —May 16, 1962, No. 13, p. 11, § 14.