P.R. Laws tit. 28, § 553
In the communities to be established, the Housing Development and Improvements Administration shall cede in usufruct to the agregados, free of charge, a parcel of land having an area of not less than one-fourth of a cuerda nor more than three cuerdas, according to the parcelling of the land deemed advisable by the Housing Development and Improvements Administration in order to execute the purposes of this act; Provided, however, That in those farms devoted or to be devoted to the purposes of this act, which are located adjacent to urban districts, and for the purposes of Title V of this act, those which are located in districts where the high cost of land, the population density, and/or the topography justifies such action, the Housing Development and Improvements Administration may, upon the approval of the Puerto Rico Planning Board and/or the Regulations and Permits Administration, establish parcels in an area of less than one-fourth of a cuerda and/or execute new designs or subdivisions in any previously established community in which any of the three above mentioned factors are present. The agregado receiving a parcel in usufruct shall be issued a usufruct contract executed for the purpose by the Housing Development and Improvements Administration, which contract shall have the force of law and in which shall be prescribed such penalties as the Housing Development and Improvements Administration may deem it expedient to impose for the breach of contract. The usufructuary may not, under penalty of absolute abatement, sell, transfer, exchange, rent, cede, assign, lease, or in any manner alienate or encumber, in whole or in part, the usufruct right granted him, neither the parcel of land over which the said right is granted, nor the buildings, accessions, or improvements existing or which he may in the future construct or make thereon, nor any right, title, or privilege arising from the usufruct contract; Provided, That any violation of this clause of the contract shall vest no legal rights whatsoever in any purported acquirer, assignee, or creditor, but shall, on the contrary, without need of judicial pronouncement to that effect, be grounds for seizure, in behalf of the Housing Development and Improvements Administration, of the usufruct right granted the usufructuary in the parcel, as well as of all interest, right, and action which the purported transferor and/or transferee, creditor and/or debtor, vendor, or acquirer, have or may have in the parcel granted in usufruct, or in the improvements, buildings, accessions, or sown fields existing thereon, the Housing Development and Improvements Administration being at liberty to dispose of the said parcel, building, structure, sown field, or improvement, without obligation to compensate or pay any person any sum whatsoever for any reason; Provided, however, That the Housing Development and Improvements Administration may, in the exercise of its discretion, expressly authorize in writing an usufructuary to transfer, cede, exchange, or assign his usufruct right to another person qualifying as such usufructuary; Provided, further, That any right of usufruct on a parcel, and any house, improvement, plantation, sown field, or building existing thereon which, as a result of the violation of the provisions of this section, reverts or passes to the property of the Housing Development and Improvements Administration, as aforesaid, shall be awarded by the drawing of lots among the number of agregados which the Housing Development and Improvements Administration may deem pertinent. The provisions of this section shall apply also to the successors in title of the original usufructuaries. In those cases in which the usufructuary of a parcel has ceased to occupy same, in whole or in part, and another person not authorized by the Housing Development and Improvements Administration is wholly or partially occupying said parcel, it shall be assumed that there has been an unlawful assignment on the part of the usufructuary of his rights in said parcel, with the consequent results referred to in this act. The agregado receiving a parcel of land shall transfer his house thereto, or shall construct a house thereon within one hundred and twenty (120) days after having signed the usufruct contract and, should he fail to do so, the contract may be cancelled without need of a judicial pronouncement to that effect, and the agregado shall then vacate the parcel, leaving it at the free disposal of the Housing Development and Improvements Administration, which shall not be under obligation to compensate said agregado for any reason; Provided, That this period of one hundred and twenty (120) days may be extended by the Housing Development and Improvements Administration as determined by regulation. The sum of one million nine hundred thousand dollars ($1,900,000) appropriated by Act No. 197 of May 11, 1942, as a permanent appropriation, from any available funds in the Treasury of Puerto Rico not otherwise appropriated, to carry out the provisions of Title V of this act, or so much of said fund as may still be available, and which sum is hereby ratified and reappropriated, and any other funds hereafter appropriated, shall be covered into the fund known as “Fund of Title V and VI, Trust Fund”, created under § 323 of this title.
The gratuitous cession of land in usufruct provided in this section shall be made extensive on the same terms and conditions to every public employee who is family head, who does not hold land as owner, whose home is located in another’s house and lands, or in his own house erected on another’s land, and who does not have sufficient capital or whose income, in the judgment of the Housing Development and Improvements Administration, does not enable him to acquire land. In those cases where a public employee not being a usufructuary is in possession of a parcel whereon is erected his only dwelling, he may request from the Housing Development and Improvements Administration the usufruct title and the latter may grant him same after determining that he meets the other requirements of law and regulations applicable.
The Administration shall exercise a rigorous control in the adjudication of these lands so that the grantees meet the requirements of this act and the purposes thereof are complied with.
History —Apr. 12, 1941, No. 26, p. 388, § 76; May 11, 1942, No. 197, p. 996, § 23; June 9, 1948, No. 44, p. 126, § 3; Apr. 5, 1951, No. 64, p. 140; June 4, 1960, No. 35, p. 59, § 1; July 1, 1975, No. 142, p. 426, § 2; June 7, 1977, No. 43, p. 91.