P.R. Laws tit. 31, § 1293b
The Condominium Association constitutes the supreme authority over the administration of the building submitted to the horizontal property regime, and shall be constituted by all the unit owners. Its resolutions and agreements adopted in duly convened and constituted assemblies, shall be of obligatory compliance for each and all of the unit owners, occupants, residents, and others who are related to the condominium.
The Condominium Association shall have its own legal personality and shall answer for its responsibilities to third parties subsidiarily, and only with their own apartment unit.
The Condominium Association shall not assume the entity of a corporation or partnership.
It is the duty of the Condominium Association to:
(a) Elect, by affirmative majority vote, the persons that shall fill the following positions:
(1) Director or Board of Directors.— In condominiums with more than fifteen (15) unit owners, a Board of Directors shall be elected, consisting of, at least, one President, one Secretary, and one Treasurer.
The regulations may set forth provisions for additional positions. The three foregoing directors shall be elected separately for each position.
With the exception of the positions of Director, President, Treasurer, or Secretary, which shall of necessity belong to the Condominium Association, the representative of a unit owner who is able to present stated evidence issued by same, subscribed before a notary, may be elected to fill the remaining positions. The directors shall be personally accountable for their actions while acting as such, should they incur a crime, fraud or gross negligence. In any other case in which monetary responsibility is imposed on an owner for his/her actions as director, the Condominium Owners Association shall cover said expenses. The Association may acquire insurance policies to cover said risks.
(2) The administrator, who may be a person that is not a member of the community of unit owners, the Director, or the Board of Directors, may delegate the powers and responsibilities allowed by the regulations. The Secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs may adopt regulations for the training or certification of the administrators, and the payment of the corresponding fees.
Unless otherwise set forth in the regulations, the term of these positions shall be one year, tacitly extendible for equal terms.
(b) Know the claims raised by the unit owners against subsection (a) and remove them by majority agreement obtained in an extraordinary meeting held for such purposes.
(c) Approve the foreseeable receipts and disbursements plan for the next fiscal year, and the account statements of the year that is ending.
(d) Approve the execution of extraordinary works and improvements, and collect funds for their completion. The annual budget shall include a reserve fund item of not less than five percent (5%) of the operational budget of the condominium for that year.
This fund shall be increased up to an amount equal to two percent (2%) of the value of reconstruction, at which time the Condominium Association shall decide whether it shall continue making deposits to same. The funds shall be kept in a special account, separate from the operations account, and shall only be used, in whole or in part, for extraordinary and urgent works and improvement works, as set forth below. As soon as the balance of the fund is below the aforementioned limit, the necessary deposits shall be made for the restitution of said limit.
(1) Extraordinary works.— The President and the Treasurer may jointly make withdrawals from the reserve fund to defray costs for this type of works, with prior authorization from the majority of the Condominium Association, duly convened in extraordinary assembly to address this specific matter. The banking institution in which the reserve fund is deposited shall require a certification from the Secretary of the Condominium Association, sworn in the presence of a notary, stating the convocation and the agreement authorizing the withdrawal, and the amount authorized, and that the authorization of the Condominium Association has not been challenged before any legal or administrative forum.
All maintenance works unforeseen in the annual budget requiring ten percent (10%) or more of said budget, or the imposition of an apportionment for their execution shall be understood to be extraordinary works.
(2) Urgent works.— The President and the Treasurer may jointly perform withdrawals from the reserve fund for all urgent works unforeseen in the annual budget, whose execution requires ten percent (10%) or more of said budget, or the imposition of an apportionment, with prior majority agreement of the majority of the Condominium Association, duly convened in extraordinary assembly to address this specific matter. The assembly to authorize the disbursement may be convened within seventy-two (72) hours without convening for a second time. It shall suffice that a certification from the Secretary of the Condominium Association, sworn in the presence of a notary, stating the convocation and the agreement authorizing the withdrawal and the amount that was approved is presented to the banking institution in which the reserve funds are deposited for the withdrawal of funds for urgent works.
All works whose execution cannot be postponed due to pressing security reasons, or because they are needed for the restoration of essential utility services, such as water and electricity supply, or the operation of the elevators, shall be understood to be urgent works.
(3) Improvement works.— In condominiums in which at least one of the units is intended for residential use, improvement works may only be performed with the approval of the qualified approval of two thirds ( 2 / 3 ) of the unit owners that in turn have two thirds ( 2 / 3 ) of the participations in the common areas, if sufficient funds to carry them out exist without the need to impose an apportionment. The withdrawal of the funds for these works shall follow the same procedures set forth in the foregoing clause (1) of this subsection.
All permanent works that are not for maintenance, for purposes of increasing the value or productivity of the property concerned, or to provide better services for the enjoyment of all the apartments or common areas shall be understood to be improvement works.
The unit owners who own limited common elements may perform, at their own expense, and with prior consent from all the benefited unit owners, those works or investments they deem necessary for such common elements, if said works do not affect the security and solidity of the structure, and do not curtail the enjoyment of any of the other units.
In condominiums that are exclusively commercial or professional, those two thirds (2 / 3) of the unit owners who in turn have two thirds (2 / 3) of the participation in the common elements of the building may approve those improvement works they deem necessary, without having the monies available in the reserve fund set forth in this section. For an equal number of votes, the fixed use of an area or a commercial or professional unit may be changed, if so authorized in the master title.
(e) Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding subsections, changes or improvement works that curtail the enjoyment of any unit shall not be authorized without the consent of the unit owner. The qualified majority of two- thirds (2/3) set forth herein shall not approve works that, in the opinion of an expert, jeopardize the security, solidity, or architectural design of the building. The alteration of the façade or the architectural design of the property shall require unanimous consent of the owners, except as otherwise provided in subsection (e) of § 1291m of this title.
(f) To impose by means of the affirmative vote of the majority of the unit owners, a special fee:
(1) upon owners of units whose occupants or visitors, without curtailing or restricting the legal rights of other unit owners, regularly make such intensive use of any common element that the operational, maintenance, or repair expenses for said common element surpasses the reasonable expenses to be incurred in the normal and customary use of the referenced facility;
(2) upon owners of units that, due to the nature of the activity legally carried out in their units, in agreement with the intended purposes of same established in the constitution title, cause greater common expenses than would be incurred if the unit concerned did not carry out the referenced activity. The amount imposed to cover the referenced excess costs shall be added to, and collectible as a part of, the expenses that may be attributed to said units.
(g) Approve the suppression of architectural barriers that obstruct access or mobility for persons with physical disabilities.
(h) Approve or amend the regulation referenced in § 1293 of this title.
(i) Order the suspension of services received through, or by means of, the general common elements, including water, gas, electricity, telephone, and/or any other similar utility services, to unit owners in default, who owe two (2) or more consecutive monthly fee payments, for not paying their maintenance fees or their proportional part of the common insurance, gratuitously enjoy the elements whose maintenance they do not contribute toward as they should. However, in view of noncompliance with the first installment, the Board of Directors or the Director shall send a notification to inform the intent to suspend the services on the due date of the second consecutive unpaid installment, pursuant to the procedure established by the Condominium Association and set forth in the regulations. In the case of an apportionment whose installments have not yet been incorporated in the monthly maintenance fees, suspension of the services may be carried out after two (2) months elapse from the due date established for the payment of the final installment, and as in the case of nonpayment of the maintenance fees, such services shall not be reinstated until the total amount due is paid. Prior to the interruption of the aforementioned services, the Director or the Board of Directors shall ensure that in so doing the health or the life of the affected party are not affected.
(j) Authorize the Board of Directors, by means of the delegation set forth in the Regulations, to impose penalties up to one hundred dollars ($100) per violation upon the unit owner or resident that breaches the norms of peaceful coexistence established in the master title, by law, or in the Regulations.
(k) Intervene and make decisions regarding those matters of general interest for the community, as well as take the necessary and convenient steps for the best common service.
History —June 25, 1958, No. 104, p. 243, § 38; June 4, 1976, No. 157, p. 461, § 7; Dec. 13, 1994, No. 129, § 1; Aug. 11, 1995, No. 153, § 1; May 21, 1996, No. 43, §§ 1, 3; Apr. 5, 2003, No. 103, § 25 eff. 90 days after Apr. 5, 2003; Sept. 17, 2012, No. 261, § 2.