2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-THREE - Public Planning and Development (§§ 1 — 11273) › PART VI - Tourism (§§ 6001 — 6982i) › Chapter 161 - Tourist Residences (§§ 6951 — 6951t) › § 6951h - Reservation contracts

(a) No reservation agreement shall be executed for a vacation home project without a location assessment, a preliminary plan or development, or any other endorsement or permit that substitutes the same by law, approved by the Planning Board and/or the regulations and Permits Administration of Puerto Rico or any government entity that, by law, substitutes the same in their functions, as the case may be, or by an autonomous municipality in the case that the power over city planning has been duly delegated thereto.
(b) reservation contracts may be drafted in either English or Spanish and shall be filed with the DACO before being used by the vacation home developer or any real estate broker or agent of the vacation home developer, and shall contain the provisions detailed in this section and any other provision that the vacation home developer wishes. The DACO shall decide whether the reservation contract complies with the following content requirements:
(1) The name of the person making the reservation and his/her personal circumstances, the name of the vacation home developer and the authorized official that shall appear, the capacity in which he/she appears, and the street address of the main office of the vacation home developer.
(2) The place where the reservation contract is executed.
(3) The estimated price; amount of the deposit; and location or possible location of the vacation home unit, including a description and the approximate measurements of the unit, and whenever possible and/or pertinent, the measurements of the lot.
(4) Approximate date of completion of the construction of the unit.
(5) A clarification that the deposits shall be deposited in a special escrow account, as established herein, and the disclosure of the name of the banking institution.
(6) The obligation of the vacation home developer to reserve the unit and the right of the parties to demand specific compliance with such obligations under the reservation contract and to terminate the same, including the grounds for termination and penalties. The reservation contract shall include a provision that allows the buyer to terminate the reservation contract at any time, at his/her full discretion, before the execution of a purchase agreement and that, upon termination of the reservation contract, the deposits shall be refundable at the request and at the full discretion of the buyer, and that when such refund occurs, the reservation contract shall be deemed extinguished;
(7) In the event that the vacation home developer wishes to use the funds obtained through deposits for expenditures related to the development of the project, pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, such fact shall be recorded in the reservation contract with the details of the bond deposited by the vacation home developer with the DACO; and
(8) A statement that the sales price may vary and that, if it does, the vacation home developer shall notify such fact to the person who makes the reservation by certified mail.
(c) The DACO may establish additional requirements through regulations, insofar as they are also approved by the Tourism Company and they are not inconsistent with this chapter.
(d) The reservation contract shall be deemed an Approved reservation contract after it has been evaluated by the DACO, pursuant to the provisions of § 6951j of this title and its regulations.
(e) None of the provisions of this chapter or its regulations shall be construed as to prohibit the parties to a reservation contract from conducting negotiations and agreeing on terms and conditions that are different from those of the approved reservation contract, insofar as the vacation home developer first shows the approved reservation contract to the buyer and notifies him/her that the buyer is entitled to demand that such approved reservation contract be used.
(f) The provisions of this section shall not apply to exempt reservation contracts.
History —Dec. 16, 2009, No. 181, § 11.