State Foreclosure Law Library

puerto-rico

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Puerto Rico — Tax & Mortgage Foreclosure

Legal information, not legal advice. Verify against the cited primary sources before acting. Last verified: 2026-06-01.

Territory note. Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, not a state. Real-property tax is municipal, but it is assessed, billed, collected, and enforced centrally by the Centro de Recaudación de Ingresos Municipales (CRIM) — a single insular agency serving all 78 municipios — not by 78 separate county/ municipal collectors. There is no county layer: the recording unit is the municipio, and the land registry is the unified Registro de la Propiedad. The enforcement statute is the Código Municipal de Puerto Rico, Ley 107-2020, Libro VII (Hacienda Municipal), which in 2020 absorbed and superseded the former property-tax-sale statutes (21 L.P.R.A. ch. 245) and repealed the standalone “Ley de Venta de Deudas Contributivas” (Ley 21-1997). Because the system is administrative-collector-driven (not a 50-state-style lien-certificate auction market and not sheriff-run), several standard modules below are marked where the 50-state framing does not map cleanly.

0. Identity & Classification

  • Recording unit: municipio (78). Land records are centralized in the Registro de la Propiedad (regional sections), not per-municipio recorders.
  • Tax sale type: tax deed sold by the collector at public auction (venta en pública subasta); the winning bidder receives a certificado de compra that ripens into absolute title if the short redemption window lapses. There is no investor lien-certificate auction of the Florida/Arizona type in current law (the assignable-tax-debt program, Ley 21-1997, was repealed).
  • Tax foreclosure process: administrative (CRIM seizes and sells without a court judgment; the debtor’s remedy is to go to court to dissolve the embargo). Art. 7.072–7.080, Ley 107-2020. source
  • Mortgage foreclosure process: judicial (court action + judicial sale by the Alguacil/marshal under Regla 51, Reglas de Procedimiento Civil). No non-judicial power-of-sale.
  • Selling authority: CRIM (Centro de Recaudación de Ingresos Municipales) for tax sales; Alguacil (court marshal) for mortgage foreclosure sales.
  • Statutory home: Código Municipal de Puerto Rico, Ley 107-2020, Libro VII, Cap. III (Contribución Municipal sobre la Propiedad), Arts. 7.059, 7.072–7.091 — official OGP text
  • Tyler v. Hennepin compliance: compliant — Puerto Rico’s statute already required the surplus (sobrante) to be returned to the former owner long before tyler-v-hennepin-county. On both a movable-property sale and a real-property sale, “todo el sobrante que como producto de la venta se realizase en exceso de las contribuciones, penalidades y costas, será devuelto por el CRIM al dueño de la propiedad vendida o sus herederos o cesionarios” (Art. 7.075), and the surplus from a real-property auction is notified and tendered to the taxpayer (Art. 7.080). The government does not keep equity beyond the debt.

1. Tax Sale Mechanics

  • What is sold: a tax deed route — the delinquent real property itself is embargoed and sold at public auction; the buyer gets a certificado de compra (Art. 7.084). If unsold for lack of a sufficient bid, CRIM may take title in its own name (Art. 7.085) and then transfer it gratuitously to the municipio. source
  • Bidding method: highest-bid deed. Sale is to the highest bidder (“al postor que ofrezca mayor cantidad”) at or above a confidential minimum that is no lower than the principal tax debt or the market-value appraisal (Art. 7.078–7.079). A 10% cash deposit on the bid is required, forfeited if the balance is not paid within 10 days (Art. 7.078).
  • Interest / penalty (delinquency, statutory): tax becomes morosa if unpaid within 90 days of the due date; surcharges of 5% (paid 31–60 days late) or 10% (paid after 60 days), plus 10% annual interest from the due date (Art. 7.059). source
  • Minimum bid composition: delinquent contributions + interest + surcharges + penalties + costs of the apremio (publication, edicts, 10%-of-tax collector’s fee); real-property minimum cannot be below the principal tax debt or the market appraisal (Arts. 7.073, 7.077, 7.079).
  • Sale frequency / typical month: no fixed statewide calendar; CRIM proceeds case-by-case after the 30-day post-notice cure period lapses. needs_verification (no single published auction calendar — sales scheduled per file).
  • Venue: in person, conducted by CRIM or its representative at the place fixed in the published notice (Art. 7.078).
  • Platform vendors: none of the commercial 50-state auction platforms apply; CRIM runs collections and notices through its own portal (portal.crim360.com).
  • Registration / deposit: 10% cash deposit of the bid amount required at the auction; balance due within 10 days or deposit forfeited (Art. 7.078).
  • Subsequent taxes (“subs”): not an investor-certificate “subs” regime. The redemption price (Art. 7.086) already folds in “contribuciones vencidas hasta la fecha de la redención,” and the CRIM lien annotation is exempt from the registry’s ordinary caducidad/lapse rules (Art. 7.076).

2. Right of Redemption → see right-of-redemption

  • Pre-sale right: yes — the taxpayer cures by paying the full delinquency (tax + surcharges + interest + costs) any time before the auction; the apremio notice gives a 30-day cure window after the embargo notice before sale (Arts. 7.059, 7.073). source
  • Post-sale period: 30 days from issuance of the certificado de compra (Art. 7.086) — a short window, not the one-year period that existed under the older Title 13 / Title 21 ch. 245 regime. Runs from the date the purchase certificate is issued. source
  • Who may redeem: the owner as of the sale date; their heirs or assignees; or any person who, at the sale date, held a right or interest in the property (including a mortgagee, tenant, or lessee), or their heirs/assignees (Art. 7.086).
  • Redemption amount formula: total purchase price + improvements and expenses incurred by the buyer + accrued costs and taxes due through the redemption date + 20% of all the foregoing as the buyer’s statutory compensation (Art. 7.086). If CRIM itself took the property, the same formula applies with the 20% characterized as a penalty (Art. 7.086).
  • Premium to certificate holder: 20% flat (not an interest rate) (Art. 7.086).
  • Procedure: pay the holder, who endorses a notarized receipt on the back of the certificado de compra; or, if the holder refuses or cannot be found, consign the redemption price with CRIM/the court, which issues a certificado de redención (Arts. 7.086–7.088). A mortgagee who redeems adds the sum to its mortgage; a tenant who redeems may deduct it from rent (Art. 7.086).
  • Extinguishment of the right: the redemption right is extinguished once the taxpayer accepts/receives the surplus from a third-party purchaser (treated as a waiver) (Art. 7.080), or when the 30-day window lapses unexercised — at which point the recorded certificado de compra becomes absolute title (Arts. 7.084–7.085).
  • Special tolling: sale postponement (not classic tolling) is available for elderly or terminally/permanently-ill taxpayers whose only home is the property and who cannot pay or qualify for a plan; the embargo annotation’s registry-lapse term is suspended until death or until the condition ceases (Art. 7.072). Bankruptcy: the depositary/trustee must pay taxes per the federal Bankruptcy Code (Art. 7.063); see bankruptcy-automatic-stay.

3. Surplus / Excess Proceeds → see surplus-funds, third-party-recovery-rules

  • Belongs to: the former owner (or heirs/assignees). Statutorily mandated return of all proceeds above tax, penalties, and costs (Arts. 7.075, 7.080).
  • Claim waterfall: (1) delinquent contributions, interest, surcharges, penalties, and apremio costs to CRIM; (2) sobrante to the former owner / heirs / successors. Recorded liens other than taxes survive against the property for a third-party buyer (Art. 7.084 — title passes “sujeto a los gravámenes inscritos”), whereas a CRIM self-award takes title “libre de toda hipoteca, carga o cualquier otro gravamen” (Art. 7.085).
  • Filing venue: with CRIM — the taxpayer requests the surplus from CRIM (or, in the third-party scenario, from the certificate holder) after CRIM’s post-sale notice (Art. 7.080).
  • Claim deadline: CRIM must notify the result of the sale and the amount of any surplus within 30 days of the auction; the taxpayer may request the surplus within that 30-day window (which also functions as / interacts with the redemption window), and after it CRIM must again notify that the surplus is available and pay upon proof of entitlement. Payment of surplus from a third-party sale is conditioned on the taxpayer delivering possession of the property (Art. 7.080). source
  • Escheat: no specific escheat-of-surplus trigger in Art. 7.080; general unclaimed-property/abandoned-funds rules would apply to long-unclaimed sums. needs_verification (exact escheat path for unclaimed tax-sale surplus not pinned to a retrieved primary source).
  • Documentation required: proof of ownership/heirship or interest as of the sale date; certified-mail notice trail; for third-party-sale surplus, evidence the taxpayer ceded possession (Art. 7.080).
  • Third-party recovery (surplus-recovery agents):
    • fee_cap_pct: none specific to tax-sale surplus recovery. needs_verification (no retrieved PR statute caps a surplus-recovery agent’s fee).
    • licensing_required: needs_verification — Puerto Rico has no retrieved statute analogous to the 50-state surplus-recovery-agent licensing/fee-cap laws.
    • assignment_of_claim_allowed: the surplus and redemption rights expressly run to the owner’s “cesionarios” (assignees), so assignment of the underlying claim/redemption right is contemplated (Arts. 7.080, 7.086). Whether a fee-based recovery contract is independently regulated is unverified.
    • cooling_off_period / contract_disclosure_rules / prohibited_practices: needs_verification — no retrieved PR consumer statute specific to surplus recovery; general Civil Code contract and unfair-practices law would govern.
    • citation: Arts. 7.080, 7.086, Ley 107-2020.
  • Notice to former owner required? Yes — CRIM must notify the sale result and surplus by certified mail, return receipt (Art. 7.080), and the apremio/ embargo notice must be served personally or by certified mail (and by edicto if the debtor cannot be found) (Art. 7.073).

Distinct historical/assignable-debt route (now repealed). From 1997 to ~2020, CRIM could sell transferable delinquent tax debts to private third parties under the Ley de Venta de Deudas Contributivas, Ley 21-1997: a 30-day pre-sale certified-mail notice to the owner (Art. 8 / 21 L.P.R.A. §5926), a Certificado de Venta assignable/pledgeable to subsequent holders (Art. 11), a 15% annual carrying interest to the debt-purchaser (Art. 15(c)), a 30-day post-auction redemption with a 20% buyer’s premium, and surplus to the owner (Arts. 24–26 / 21 L.P.R.A. §§5942–5944). The official OGP text now carries the banner “DEROGADA” (repealed); the Municipal Code did not re-enact a transferable-debt market, so today’s enforcement is the CRIM administrative-sale route above. Ley 21-1997 (DEROGADA), OGP

4. Mortgage Foreclosure

  • Process: judicial only. A creditor sues in the Tribunal de Primera Instancia; on judgment the court issues a writ to the Alguacil (marshal) to sell the encumbered property at public auction under Regla 51.3/51.7, Reglas de Procedimiento Civil de 2009. source
  • Pre-filing / mediation: for an owner-occupied principal residence, the Ley 184-2012 (“Ley de Ayuda a Deudores Hipotecarios” / mandatory mediation in foreclosure) requires a court-supervised mediation before the property can be sold. needs_verification (Ley 184-2012 exact sections not pulled from a retrieved primary source; corroborated by secondary practice guides).
  • Timeline (days): notice of sale by posting in 3 public places for 2 weeks and publication twice in a general-circulation newspaper (≥7 days apart); the judicial sale may occur after 14 days from first publication (Regla 51.7). No statutory NOD/confirmation hearing equivalent to deed-of-trust states. source
  • Reinstatement right: debtor may pay to stop the sale up to the judicial sale; exact statutory reinstatement window needs_verification.
  • Redemption after sale: Puerto Rico does not provide a general statutory post-sale redemption period after a judicial mortgage foreclosure sale (unlike the tax-sale 30-day right); confirmation of the judicial sale vests title in the buyer. needs_verification (no statutory post-mortgage-sale redemption located in a retrieved primary source; treat as “none” pending confirmation).
  • Deficiency judgment: permitted — if sale proceeds are insufficient, the marshal may pursue the debtor’s other assets “como en cualquier otra ejecución” (Regla 51.7). Fair-value-offset / one-action-rule specifics needs_verification.
  • Surplus distribution: surplus after satisfying the judgment, interest, and costs goes to junior lienholders by priority and then to the mortgagor (general Regla 51 execution principles). needs_verification for the precise distribution subsection.
  • Sale officer: Alguacil (court marshal).

5. Sale Procedure Playbooks

  • CRIM tax-collector sale — ordered steps → see treasurer-sale:
    1. Tax becomes morosa 90 days after due date; surcharges + 10% interest accrue (Art. 7.059).
    2. CRIM issues a written notification of embargo stating the full debt, and records a certificación de embargo in the Registro de la Propiedad for real property (Arts. 7.073, 7.076).
    3. Debtor has 30 days to pay; service is personal, or by certified mail (return receipt), or by edicto if the debtor cannot be found (Art. 7.073).
    4. Notice of auction published once in a general-circulation print or digital newspaper, plus posted edicts (Art. 7.077).
    5. Appraisal sets a confidential minimum bid ≥ principal tax debt or market value; auction to the highest bidder; 10% deposit required (Arts. 7.078–7.079).
    6. CRIM issues the certificado de compra within 60 days; records it free of charge (Art. 7.084). If no adequate bid, CRIM may self-award (Art. 7.085).
    7. Within 30 days of the sale, CRIM notifies the result and any sobrante by certified mail; surplus paid to the owner; 30-day redemption runs from the certificate (Arts. 7.080, 7.086).
  • Sheriff/marshal sale (mortgage) — ordered steps → see sheriff-sale: judgment → writ to Alguacil → posting (3 places, 2 weeks) + publication (twice, ≥7 days apart) → auction after 14 days → marshal’s deed → surplus to juniors then mortgagor; deficiency pursued against other assets (Regla 51.3, 51.7).
  • Notice requirements: tax sale — 1 newspaper publication + edicts + certified- mail/personal embargo notice (Arts. 7.073, 7.077); mortgage sale — posting in 3 public places for 2 weeks + 2 newspaper publications (Regla 51.7).
  • Upset bid / confirmation: no 50-state-style upset-bid period for tax sales; CRIM may postpone the sale day-to-day or for up to 60 days for just cause (Art. 7.081). Mortgage sales are confirmed by the court.
  • Payment terms: tax sale — 10% deposit at auction, balance within 10 days, or deposit forfeited (Art. 7.078).
  • Deed issued: certificado de compra (tax) recorded free of registry fees; becomes absolute title if not redeemed in 30 days, taking subject to recorded non-tax liens for a third-party buyer (Art. 7.084) but free of all liens for a CRIM self-award (Art. 7.085).

6. Due Process & Notice → see due-process-notice

  • Standard: federal constitutional minimum applies in Puerto Rico — notice “reasonably calculated, under all the circumstances,” to apprise interested parties (mullane-v-central-hanover); a mortgagee of record is entitled to actual (mailed) notice (mennonite-v-adams); returned mail can require additional reasonable steps (jones-v-flowers).
  • Statutory attempts (tax sale): personal service of the embargo notice; certified mail (return receipt) to the address of record; edicto/publication if the debtor cannot be located; certified-mail notice of the sale result and surplus (Arts. 7.073, 7.077, 7.080). The recorded certificación de embargo is itself deemed sufficient to notify the taxpayer and commence the apremio (Art. 7.076).
  • Consequence of defective notice: a sale conducted in violation of the statute is void (“todas las ventas así efectuadas serán nulas”), and a knowing/ fraudulent sale exposes the officer to criminal liability (Arts. 7.082–7.083). CRIM may itself cancel a judicially-declared void/irregular sale and issue a certificado de redención restoring the owner (Art. 7.090). An action to nullify a public-auction adjudication requires joining the successful bidder as an indispensable party (aponte-v-roman-torres).
  • Leading cases: mullane-v-central-hanover, mennonite-v-adams, jones-v-flowers, tyler-v-hennepin-county, aponte-v-roman-torres.

7. Title & Marketability

  • Deed warranty level: none — the buyer takes the property “tal y como está” with no warranty-of-eviction (saneamiento) action against CRIM (Art. 7.079).
  • Marketable immediately? No. Title is contingent during the 30-day redemption window; it becomes “absolute” only upon recording after the window lapses (Arts. 7.084–7.085), and a third-party buyer’s title remains subject to other recorded liens (Art. 7.084).
  • Quiet title required? Often advisable given the no-warranty deed and surviving non-tax liens; not statutorily mandated. needs_verification (no retrieved primary source mandating quiet title after a CRIM tax deed).
  • SOL to challenge the deed: the certificado de compra is prima facie evidence of the recited facts in any later controversy (Arts. 7.084–7.085); the specific statute of limitations to attack the deed is needs_verification.
  • Title insurance availability: Puerto Rico has an active title-insurance market, but coverage of CRIM tax-deed title turns on cure of the redemption window and surviving liens. needs_verification (no retrieved primary source on insurer practice).
  • Common defects: defective embargo/sale notice (void sale, Arts. 7.082, 7.090); surviving recorded mortgages/liens against a third-party buyer (Art. 7.084); unresolved heirship; redemption exercised within the 30-day window.

8. Case Law (real, verified)

CaseYearTopicHolding (plain English)Source
tyler-v-hennepin-county2023surplusA government that keeps sale proceeds beyond the tax debt commits an unconstitutional taking; the former owner is entitled to the surplus. PR already complies (Arts. 7.075, 7.080 return the sobrante to the owner).law.cornell.edu
mennonite-v-adams1983due_processA mortgagee of record is entitled to actual (mailed) notice of a tax sale; publication/posting alone is constitutionally insufficient. Binds PR tax-sale notice practice.law.cornell.edu
aponte-v-roman-torres1998sale_procedureAn action to nullify a public-auction judicial sale must join the successful bidder as an indispensable party; a third-party registry purchaser’s interest cannot be voided without their participation. (Arose from a judgment-execution auction; the indispensable-party rule applies to public-auction nullity actions generally, including tax-sale challenges.) Cited as 1998 TSPR 53 / 98 DTS 053.lexjuris.com
mullane-v-central-hanover1950due_process / redemptionNotice must be “reasonably calculated, under all the circumstances,” to apprise parties and afford an opportunity to object — the baseline for any redemption-affecting deprivation in PR.law.cornell.edu

Topic-tag coverage note. due_process (Mennonite, Mullane), surplus (Tyler), and sale_procedure (Aponte) are covered by verified cases. A squarely-on-point Puerto Rico appellate decision applying these doctrines to a CRIM property-tax sale or to the 30-day redemption right was not located in a retrieved primary source; the redemption tag therefore rests on statute (Art. 7.086) plus the Mullane baseline, and a PR-specific redemption case is listed in needs_verification.

9. Edge Cases (state-specific notes)

  • bankruptcy-automatic-stay — a bankruptcy trustee/depositary must pay property taxes per the federal Bankruptcy Code; CRIM collection is subject to the automatic stay (Art. 7.063, Ley 107-2020).
  • federal-tax-lien-redemption — IRS 28 U.S.C. §2410 / 26 U.S.C. §7425 120-day redemption applies in PR as a U.S. jurisdiction; interplay with the 30-day CRIM window is needs_verification.
  • heirs-property — redemption/surplus rights expressly run to “herederos” (heirs); no estate may be distributed and no registry inscription made until current taxes are paid (Art. 7.063).
  • Elderly / terminally-ill homestead — CRIM may postpone the sale of the sole-home of an elderly or permanently-ill taxpayer who cannot pay, suspending the embargo’s registry-lapse term until death or recovery (Art. 7.072).
  • homestead-protections — “hogar seguro” exemption (Art. 249, Código de Enjuiciamiento Civil 1933) protects certain household movables from tax sale and is paid out when CRIM self-awards (Arts. 7.074, 7.085).
  • scra-protections — Servicemembers Civil Relief Act applies federally in PR. needs_verification (no PR-specific SCRA tax-sale case retrieved).
  • Void vs. voidable — statutory non-compliance or fraud renders the sale void (Arts. 7.082–7.083); CRIM can administratively cancel a court-declared irregular/void sale and re-vest the owner (Art. 7.090).
  • Repealed assignable-tax-debt market — note the now-DEROGADA Ley 21-1997 if reviewing pre-2020 chains of title where a Certificado de Venta (not a CRIM certificado de compra) appears.

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