Co-owned property: how it is managed and how it is divided

The Code defines it in one line: a community of property exists when a thing or a right belongs in common pro indiviso to two or more persons. Pro indiviso means nobody owns a specific physical part — nobody has "the back room" — but rather a quota over the whole. Absent an agreement among co-owners, or special provisions or communities, the community is governed by what this title of the Code provides.

Any co-owner. The Code requires no majority, no permission from the others, and no reason: a co-owner is not required to remain in the community and has the right to demand at any time that the common thing be divided. The exceptions are five and are listed: an agreement or testamentary or donative provision to keep the thing undivided for a fixed time; that it is subject to forced indivision; that, for an immovable, its subdivision would contravene urban planning rules; that dividing it would render it useless for its intended use; or that this Code or the law prevents it.

• Being a co-owner: that the thing or right belongs to you in common pro indiviso along with other persons.Verified against the official source
• That none of the five exceptions to the right to demand division applies: a valid indivision agreement or provision, forced indivision, subdivision contrary to urban planning rules, the thing becoming useless, or a bar in the Code or the law.Verified against the official source
• To sell your quota over land: that the transfer be in a public instrument, because the Code requires it for validity.Verified against the official source

• The title evidencing the community and the quotas: the deed of sale, the declaration of heirs, the will or the partition. The Code presumes quotas equal when nothing else appears.
• If there is an indivision agreement over an immovable or over a real right on an immovable: evidence of its recording in the Registro de la Propiedad, because without it it has no effect against third parties.

1. 1

   Step 1: Find out what your quota is

   It governs almost everything else. The Code presumes the co-owners’ quotas are equal, and establishes that each one’s rights and obligations are proportional to their quota. From that follows how much you get in the division, how much your vote weighs in administration and how much you must contribute to expenses. If the title says otherwise — a deed splitting 50/25/25, for example — the title governs; equality is only the starting presumption.

2. 2

   Step 2: Understand what you can decide and what needs the others

   There are three distinct levels. Over your own quota you decide: a co-owner has the rights inherent to full ownership of their quota and of the fruits corresponding to it, and may transfer, cede, encumber it or substitute another in its enjoyment, unless strictly personal rights are involved — and the effect of that sale or encumbrance is limited to the rights belonging to them at the moment of division. Ordinary administration is decided by absolute majority calculated by the value of the quotas, and that agreement binds even the dissenting minority. Innovations, substantial alterations and acts of juridical disposition of the common thing require everyone’s unanimous consent. That is why you can sell your share without permission, but you cannot sell the house.

3. 3

   Step 3: If something must be agreed, convene it properly

   The Code sets a formal requirement that voids agreements when missing: for majority agreements to be valid, all co-owners must be informed beforehand of the subject of the deliberations they are convened to. With an absolute majority a set of rules may also be approved for ordinary administration and better enjoyment of the common thing, and administration may be delegated to a person with defined powers and duties. And if the necessary measures are not approved, no majority forms, or the adopted agreement is not carried out, any co-owner may resort to the competent judicial authority.

4. 4

   Step 4: Claim what you are owed for use and expenses

   Two rules that settle the most common fights. A co-owner has the right to use and enjoy the common things provided they do so according to the thing’s purpose and in a way that does not harm the community’s interest or prevent the others from using it as of right; if they cannot agree, the court may regulate use at a party’s request. And a co-owner who has exclusive use of the thing to the others’ detriment and without their approval must indemnify them in their corresponding proportions. On the other side, every co-owner must contribute to the expenses necessary to preserve the common thing or right and to expenses agreed by the majority, when any of them demands it; only a co-owner who renounces their quota before approving those expenses, expressly or tacitly, is exempt, and that renunciation increases the others’ quotas in proportion to theirs.

5. 5

   Step 5: Demand the division

   Division is the juridical act by which the co-owners’ rights are replaced by each one’s exclusive right over a determined part of what was the common asset, corresponding to the value of their quotas. It can be done three ways: by the interested parties, by arbitrators or mediators appointed by unanimous agreement of the participants, or by the court. If arbitrators, mediators or the court do it, shares proportional to each participant’s right must be formed, avoiding cash supplements where possible. And if a co-owner objects to remaining in indivision, the others may satisfy them by delivering their quota in kind — provided it is easily separable from the rest — or in money, as that co-owner prefers; if there is no agreement on kind or money, an appraiser or a person designated by all does the valuation, and if there is no agreement on that either, the court decides.

6. 6

   Step 6: If there is an indivision agreement, count the years

   An agreement by unanimous consent, or a testamentary or donative provision to keep the thing undivided for a fixed time, is valid if it does not exceed 4 years, and is always renewable by new agreements of no more than 4 years each. If the agreement or provision states no term, it is understood to be 4 years. To affect third parties, an agreement over an immovable or over a real right on an immovable must be recorded in the Registro de la Propiedad. And even with an agreement to the contrary there are two exits: division is valid if unanimous consent of the co-owners exists, and if grave circumstances arise the court may order it before the term expires.

The division can be done among yourselves, before arbitrators or mediators appointed by unanimous agreement, or in the Court of First Instance if there is no agreement. The transfer of pro indiviso quotas over land must be in a public instrument, so a notary intervenes there. Indivision agreements over immovables are recorded in the Registro de la Propiedad.

• Believing everyone must agree in order to divide: a co-owner is not required to remain in the community and may demand division at any time.
• Counting the majority by headcount: in ordinary administration it is calculated by the value of the quotas.
• Adopting agreements without notifying everyone: the Code requires prior notice of the subject of deliberations for a majority agreement to be valid.
• Selling the whole house with the majority’s signature: acts of juridical disposition over the common thing require unanimous consent.
• Selling your quota over land on a private document: the Code requires a public instrument for the transfer to be valid.
• Agreeing to indivision "forever": the agreement is valid for up to 4 years, renewable by new agreements of up to 4 years each.
• Signing an indivision agreement over an immovable and not recording it: without recording in the Registro de la Propiedad it has no effect against third parties.
• Living in the common property without the others’ approval and without paying them: there is a duty to indemnify in their corresponding proportions.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico

  Poder Judicial

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov