2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THIRTEEN - Taxation and Finance (§§ 1 — 33423) › Subtitle 3 - Property Taxes (§§ 401 — 701-701-41) › Chapter 55 - Attachment, Sale, and Redemption of Property (§§ 501 — 522) › § 515 - Redemption of property sold for taxes

Except as provided in § 510 of this title, the owner on the date of sale of any real property, hereinafter sold to another natural or juridical person or to the Commonwealth for the payment of taxes, his/her heirs or assigns, or any person who on the date of sale may have any right or interest therein, or his/her heirs or assigns, may redeem them within the term of one (1) year from the date of issue of the certificate of purchase, by paying to the internal revenue collector in whose office the property was sold, or to the purchaser, heirs or assigns, the full amount of the purchase money, plus the improvements and expenses incurred by the purchaser together with the fees accrued and taxes due to the date of redemption, to which there shall be added twenty percent (20%) of all of the above as compensation for the purchaser. Upon payment of said amounts, the redemptioner shall be entitled to receive from the purchaser, his/her heirs or assigns, the said certificate of purchase on the reverse side of which there shall be properly issued before a notary public a receipt for the money paid to redeem the property and the redemptioner shall pay the notary public a fee of fifty (50) cents. The duly endorsed receipt on the reverse of the certificate of purchase or in the proper case, the certificate of the Secretary of the Treasury of Puerto Rico prescribed hereinafter, shall operate as a release of all claims of the Secretary of the Treasury to the property title of the real property sold under or by virtue of said auction for payment of unpaid taxes and as cancellation of a certificate of purchase. If the property has been awarded to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, once the abovementioned amounts have been paid to the internal revenue collector, the Secretary of the Treasury of Puerto Rico shall issue a certificate for the Property Registrar setting forth the redemption and ordering that the same be entered in the Property Registry cancelling the purchase in behalf of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The redemptioner may cause that said release, or in the proper case, the certificate of the Secretary of the Treasury, be duly recorded in the property register against the certificate of purchase upon the payment of a fee of one (1) dollar to the registrar; and the property so redeemed shall remain subject to all the liens and legal claims against it, other than for taxes, in the same extent and manner as though said property had not been sold for payment of taxes. When the property is redeemed by a mortgagee the redemption money paid by him shall be added to a mortgage credit, and may be recovered at the same rate of interest borne by the mortgage credit, and when the tenant or lessee redeems the property, he/she may deduct the redemption amount from the rent. Except as provided in § 510 of this title, when the property has been awarded to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico the Secretary of the Treasury, at his/her discretion, or after one year has elapsed from the date of issue of the purchase certificate, may accede to the redemption thereof by any person entitled to redeem it within the year, provided that at the time the redemption is requested, the property is not being used by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and has not been sold, transferred or ceded under lease by it, or the surplus of the auction has not been delivered, and provided the person requesting the redemption previously deposits in the corresponding internal revenue collector’s office the total amount of the taxes being collected through the auction plus improvements and expenses incurred by the Commonwealth together with all accrued costs and the taxes that would have been imposed on said property had the same continued in the possession of any taxpayer, with its surcharges and interest plus twenty percent (20%) of the preceding as a penalty for the Commonwealth; Provided, That in these cases once the Secretary of the Treasury has acceded to the redemption, the certificate of redemption shall be issued and the sale shall be canceled at the Property Registry in the same manner as prescribed in this section for cases of redemption within one year.
History —Political Code, 1902, § 348; Mar. 14, 1907, p. 330, § 12; Mar. 10, 1910, No. 46, p. 145; Apr. 14, 1941, No. 34, p. 558; Apr. 10, 1943, No. 11, p. 32, § 1; May 9, 1945, No. 138, p. 466; June 20, 1958, No. 67, p. 152, § 2; June 21, 1974, No. 80, Part 1, p. 287, § 2; May 27, 1976, No. 55, p. 152, § 10; May 12, 1981, No. 7, p. 15; Aug. 6, 1991, No. 48, § 6.