In short
The breach section of the financial-lease chapter separates immovables from movables and, within immovables, grades the remedy by how much has been paid. Article 1361 orders it thus: if the lessee has paid less than a quarter of the cánones, the lessor may sue judicially for immediate eviction; if they have paid more than a quarter of the cánones, the lessor must claim payment of the cánones owed and, once sixty days have passed without payment, may sue judicially for immediate eviction; if they have paid three quarters or more of the cánones, the lessor must claim payment and, once one hundred and twenty days have passed without payment, may sue judicially for immediate eviction. And in any of those cases, the lessor may sue judicially for the cánones up to the day of eviction, the interest, the costs and the abnormal deterioration attributable to the lessee. Article 1362 treats movables with another logic and another clock: faced with non-payment, the lessor may demand payment within five days and, by presenting the contract and proof of the demand, may obtain immediate repossession; it may also claim judicially the cánones up to the day of seizure, the interest, the costs, the penalty clauses and the abnormal deterioration attributable to the lessee. Two things are worth noting in the text as published: the yardstick here is quarters of the cánones, while the duty to sell you the thing is measured in three quarters of the price of the thing; and the article regulates the case of "less than a quarter" and that of "more than a quarter", without writing the case of exactly one quarter.
What is it?
They are Articles 1361 and 1362 of the Civil Code of 2020: the effects of breach in a financial lease, graded by how much has been paid where the thing is immovable, and with its own procedure where it is movable.
Who can do it?
Lessees who have fallen behind and lessors seeking payment or the thing back, in a financial lease governed by the Puerto Rico Civil Code.
Requirements
- On immovables, if more than a quarter of the cánones has been paid: that the lessor claim payment and sixty days pass without it.Verified against the official source
- On immovables, if three quarters or more of the cánones has been paid: that the lessor claim payment and one hundred and twenty days pass without it.Verified against the official source
- On movables: to demand payment within five days and present the contract together with proof of the demand.Verified against the official source
- On immovables, eviction is sought judicially in all three scenarios the article describes.Verified against the official source
Documents you need
Cost
Step by step
Step 1: First: is the thing immovable or movable?
The chapter separates the two cases into different articles, with different rules and clocks. Article 1361 is for immovables; 1362, for movables.
Step 2: Immovables: less than a quarter paid
Article 1361(a): if the lessee has paid less than a quarter of the cánones, the lessor may sue judicially for immediate eviction. No prior wait is written into this subsection.
Step 3: Immovables: more than a quarter paid
Subsection (b): the lessor must claim payment of the cánones owed and, once sixty (60) days have passed without payment, may sue judicially for immediate eviction. Here there is a prior duty to claim, and a wait.
Step 4: Immovables: three quarters or more
Subsection (c): the lessor must claim payment and, once one hundred and twenty (120) days have passed without payment, may sue judicially for immediate eviction. The more you have paid, the longer it must wait.
Step 5: A case the text does not write
The article regulates "less than a quarter" and "more than a quarter". The case of exactly one quarter does not appear in the published text. We flag it and do not resolve it: this guide does not complete what the Code does not say.
Step 6: What else it may collect on immovables
Subsection (d): the lessor may sue judicially for the cánones up to the day of eviction, the interest, the costs and the abnormal deterioration attributable to the lessee. The article fixes no interest rate and does not define "abnormal deterioration".
Step 7: Movables: five days and repossession
Article 1362: faced with non-payment, the lessor may demand payment within five (5) days and, by presenting the contract and proof of the demand, may obtain immediate repossession. The clock is far shorter than for immovables.
Step 8: The two papers required
The article names them: presentation of the contract and proof of the demand. Without those two, the immediate-repossession route is not the one the article describes. The Code does not say here before whom they are presented, and this guide does not assume it.
Step 9: What else it may collect on movables
The second paragraph of Article 1362 adds an item absent from the immovables one: the lessor may claim judicially the cánones up to the day of seizure, the interest, the costs, the penalty clauses and the abnormal deterioration attributable to the lessee.
Step 10: Careful not to confuse the chapter’s two yardsticks
Here the measure is quarters of the cánones. The lessor’s duty to sell you the thing, by contrast, is measured in three quarters of the price of the thing (Article 1356(b)). They are two different things and this guide does not mix them.
Where to do it
The eviction of Article 1361 is sought judicially, in the Court of First Instance, under the Rules of Civil Procedure and the eviction statute, which we did not read here and which have their own guide. The claim for cánones, interest, costs and deterioration is also judicial. For the repossession of Article 1362 the Code names no forum, and this guide does not invent one.
How long it takes
What to do if something goes wrong
If your contract is a store’s consumer rent-to-own, a special statute governs it with its own guide, and it carries reinstatement rights this chapter does not contain. If your contract is an ordinary housing lease, see the lease and eviction guides. Remember too that this chapter complements, without replacing, the special financial-lease legislation the Code does not name. These articles fix no interest rate, do not define "abnormal deterioration", do not say before whom repossession is obtained, and do not write the case of exactly one quarter. MiPRFácil does not represent anyone in court and gives no legal advice.
Common mistakes
- Counting the quarters against the price of the thing: here the yardstick is the cánones.
- As the lessor of an immovable with more than a quarter paid, suing for eviction without first claiming payment.
- As the lessor, suing before subsection (b)’s sixty days have passed.
- As the lessor, suing before the one hundred and twenty days where the lessee has paid three quarters or more.
- As the lessee, believing eviction on immovables is automatic: in two of the three scenarios there is a prior claim and a wait.
- As the lessee of a movable, expecting the long immovable periods: there the article speaks of five days.
- As the lessor of a movable, seeking immediate repossession without the contract and proof of the demand.
- Assuming penalty clauses are also collected in the immovables case: the article names them in the movables one.
- Treating the case of exactly one quarter paid as settled: the published text does not write it.
Frequently asked questions
I fell behind on the car lease. How long do I have?
If the thing is movable, Article 1362 lets the lessor demand payment within five days and, presenting the contract and proof of the demand, obtain immediate repossession.
I have paid more than half on a commercial unit. Can they evict me right away?
If you have paid more than a quarter of the cánones, the lessor must first claim payment and wait sixty days without it before suing judicially for eviction. If you have paid three quarters or more, the wait is one hundred and twenty days.
What else may they charge besides the eviction?
On immovables, the cánones up to the day of eviction, the interest, the costs and the abnormal deterioration attributable to the lessee. On movables, the same up to the day of seizure, plus the penalty clauses.
I paid exactly a quarter. Which rule applies to me?
The article writes the case of less than a quarter and that of more than a quarter. Exactly one quarter does not appear in the published text, and this guide does not decide for the Code.
Official sources
These are the government pages this guide is based on.
- Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico
Poder Judicial
bvirtualogp.pr.gov
Last verified
September 9, 2026
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