P.R. Laws tit. 13, § 519
Any personal property or real property offered at public auction for nonpayment of taxes, and not sold for lack of sufficient bids to cover all the taxes, penalties and costs on said property, may be purchased by the collector or agent in behalf of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in any public auction. The collector or agent shall make a public bid for such property for the amount of said taxes, penalties and costs, and if no higher bid is offered he shall issue and cause to be registered in the Registry of Property of that district a certificate of purchase in behalf of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, containing the data and description of the property as prescribed in § 514 of this title. If the right of redemption, granted by § 515 of this title, is not exercised during the term prescribed, said certificate, when recorded in the Registry of Property, shall vest absolute title to said property in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, free from all mortgages, liens or any other encumbrances. Said certificate shall be prima facie evidence of the facts recited therein in any controversy, proceeding or suit involving or concerning the rights of the purchaser, his heirs or assigns to the property thereby conveyed. No fees shall be collected by the property registrars for the registration of said certificate or for the copies issued thereof. The Secretary of the Treasury of Puerto Rico shall adopt and promulgate the rules needed to regulate the use by the collectors of the authority granted herein, to purchase in behalf of and for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, real and personal property, or both, in auctions for the payment of taxes, and he may, in specific cases, instruct the collector to purchase or to abstain from purchasing the attached property.
In those cases in which the property is adjudicated to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby empowered to pay to the person with homestead rights the amount fixed in the statutes to protect this right from any unencumbered funds.
The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby directed to transfer, free of charge, to the Department of Agriculture the titles to the properties which are or shall be property of the Commonwealth through attachment for the payment of taxes, provided said property qualifies, after determination and approval of the Secretary of Agriculture, to be used as agricultural farms under the Title VI program of the Land Law of Puerto Rico. Provided, That the Secretary of the Department of the Treasury shall be empowered to transfer, free of charge, to the Department of Agriculture the title of the properties that are or shall be property of the Commonwealth through attachment for the payment of taxes, as provided in this section and which qualify to be used as agricultural farms under the Title VI program of the Land Law of Puerto Rico, and by express petition of the Department of Agriculture.
History —Political Code, 1902, § 352; Mar. 10, 1904, p. 167, § 40; Mar. 14, 1907, p. 330, § 14; Apr. 14, 1941, No. 34, p. 558; Apr. 10, 1943, No. 11, p. 32, § 1; June 28, 1969, No. 132, p. 384, § 7; June 4, 1978, No. 34, p. 129; Mar. 6, 1979, No. 20, p. 45.