2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THIRTY-TWO - Code of Civil Procedure (§§ 1 — 3576) › Subtitle 4 - Special Legal Proceedings Law (§§ 2241 — 3355a) › PART IV - Condemnation of Private Property (§§ 2901 — 2927) › Chapter 239 - General Provisions (§§ 2901 — 2927) › § 2907 - Declaration of taking; vesting of title and right to compensation

In any proceeding which has been or may be instituted by and in the name and under the authority of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or of the Commonwealth Government, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or the Commonwealth Government acting in such proceeding either on its own initiative and for its own use or on the request of any agency or instrumentality of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; and in every proceeding instituted or which may be instituted by and in the name of the Puerto Rico Housing Authority, or of any municipal housing authority of any municipality of Puerto Rico for the expropriation or for the acquisition of any property for public use, the petitioner or plaintiff 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 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or of the Commonwealth Government, or of the agency or governmental instrumentality which may have requested it, or of any other petitioner or plaintiff. 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 public use.
(4) A plan, in the case of property which can be so represented.
(5) The fixing of the sum of money estimated by said acquiring authority to be just compensation for the property the acquisition of which is sought.
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, absolute title to said property in fee simple, or such lesser fee simple or interest therein as specified in said declaration, shall vest in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or the Commonwealth Government, or in the agency or instrumentality of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico which may have requested the expropriation, or in that of the plaintiff or petitioner other than the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and such property shall be deemed as condemned and acquired for the use of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or of the Commonwealth Government, or of the government agency or instrumentality of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico which may have requested the expropriation, or the corresponding Housing Authority or the municipality in question, as the case may be, and the right to fair compensation for the same shall vest in the person or persons entitled thereto; and said compensation shall be determined and awarded in said proceeding and established by judgment therein; and said judgment shall include, as part of the fair compensation granted, interest at the annual rate fixed through regulations by the Financing Board of the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions which is in effect at the time the judgment is pronounced pursuant to Rule 44.3 of App. III of this title, on the additional amount finally awarded as the value of the property as of the date of taking, and from said date to the date of payment; but interest shall not be allowed on that part thereof that has been deposited and paid in the court. In those cases in which there has been a taking, the interest fixed by the Financing Board, prevailing at the date of payment, shall also be paid as of the date of taking. No sum so deposited and paid shall be subject to any charges for commissions, deposits or custody.
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 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or the Commonwealth Government, the corresponding housing authority, the municipality in question, as the case may be, for the amount of the difference.
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 person 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 and other charges, if any, burdening the property, as shall be just and equitable.
No action whatever shall be taken under the provisions of this section, irrevocably binding the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to pay the compensation that may be definitively fixed, unless the head of the executive department or agency, bureau, or instrumentality of the government empowered to acquire the property certifies that he is of the opinion that the compensation definitively fixed will be within whatever limits are prescribed by the Legislature of Puerto Rico in connection with the price or amount to be paid.
Provided, That 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 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the corresponding housing authority, municipality, as the case may be, and its material delivery thereto.
History —Mar. 12, 1903, p. 50, added as § 5A on Apr. 1, 1941, No. 2, p. 284, § 2; Nov. 21, 1941, No. 22, p. 68; Apr. 9, 1942, No. 22, p. 386; Nov. 30, 1942, No. 19, p. 82, § 3; Dec. 26, 1997, No. 187, § 1.