2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THIRTEEN - Taxation and Finance (§§ 1 — 33423) › Subtitle 17 - Internal Revenue Code of 2011 (§§ 30001 — 33423) › PART VII - Administrative Provisions, Procedures, Interests, Penalties, and Additions to Taxes (§§ 33001 — 33423) › Chapter 1066 - Procedures for Demand for Payment, Attachment, and Sale of Taxpayer’s Property (§§ 33261 — 33280) › § 33274 - Redemption of property sold to pay taxes

(a) Except for the provisions of § 33269 of this title whoever is the owner on the date of sale of any real property, which is subsequently sold to another natural or juridical person or to the Government of Puerto Rico to pay taxes, his/her heirs or assignees or any person who, on the date of sale, has any right over or interest on such property, or his/her heirs or assignees, may redeem it within a term of one (1) year from the date of issue of the purchase certificate, by paying the authorized agent in whose Collection District the sale of the property has been conducted, or to the buyer, or his/her heirs or assignees, the total amount of the purchase value, plus improvements and expenditures incurred by the buyer, together with costs accrued and assessed debts, fines, interest, surcharges, and penalties due and payable until the redemption date, to which twenty percent (20%) of all the above amounts shall be added as compensation for the buyer.
(b) Upon completing payment of such amounts, whoever redeems the property shall be entitled to receive from the buyer, or his/her heirs or assignees, said purchase certificate, on the back of which he/she shall properly attest before a notary public that he/she has received the money paid to redeem the property, and the person who redeems the property shall pay the notary public’s fees.
(c) Receipt that has been duly attested to on the back of the purchase certificate, or in default thereof, the certificate from the Secretary that is established further, shall operate as a letter of payment for all claims by the Secretary over the title deed of the real property, sold by reason or by virtue of said auction to pay unpaid taxes and to cancel the purchase certificate.
(d) If the property has been adjudicated to the Government of Puerto Rico, the Secretary, upon payment of the amounts stated above to the authorized agent, shall issue a certificate for the property registrar attesting to the redemption and ordering that the same be recorded in the Property Registry of Puerto Rico, thus cancelling the purchase in favor of the Government of Puerto Rico.
(e) Whoever redeems the property may cause said letter of payment, or in default thereof, the certificate from the Secretary, to be properly recorded in the Property Registry against the purchase certificate by paying the corresponding registration fees to the registrar.
(f) The property thus redeemed shall be subject to all legal liens and claims against it, except for taxes, to the same extent and in the same manner as if such property had not been sold for paying taxes.
(g) When the property is redeemed by a mortgage creditor, the money paid by him/her to redeem the property shall be accrued into a mortgage credit, and may be recovered at the same interest rate accrued by the mortgage credit.
(h) When the tenant or lessee redeems the property, he/she may deduct the amount of such redemption from the rent he/she pays.
(i) Except for the provisions in this section, when the property has been adjudicated to the Government of Puerto Rico, the Secretary may, at his/her discretion, or after one year has elapsed from the date the purchase certificate was issued, consent to the redemption thereof by any person entitled to redeem the same within the one-year term, as long as the property is not being used by the Government of Puerto Rico and has not been sold, transferred, or assigned by the Government through a lease at the time the redemption is requested, or the surplus from the auction has not been surrendered, and as long as the person who requests the redemption previously deposits in the corresponding Collection District the amount of taxes into auction proceeds, plus improvements and expenditures incurred by the state, together with all costs accrued and all assessed debts that would have been imposed on said property had the same continued to be in the possession of any taxpayer, with surcharges and interest thereon plus twenty percent (20%) of the preceding amount, as a penalty for the state. In such cases, once the Secretary has consented to the redemption, the redemption certificate shall be issued and the sale shall be cancelled at the Property Registry in the same manner as that established in this section for redemptions made within the one (1)-year term.
History —Jan. 31, 2011, No. 1, § 6060.14, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2011.