Complaint about unpermitted work or a business

It is Chapter 11.2 of Joint Regulation No. 9473, issued under Ley 161-2009, Ley 75-1975, Ley 107-2020 and Ley 38-2017. Its purpose, as the chapter itself states, is to provide a uniform procedure for filing and adjudicating complaints and to ensure their fair, prompt and economical resolution. It applies to complaints filed before the Planning Board, before autonomous municipalities with hierarchy I to III, or before any other government entity concerned.

The list is closed and worth reading before investing time. The following may file a complaint before the Board’s Audits and Complaints Division: any agency, dependency or instrumentality of the Government of Puerto Rico acting for the public interest; or a private person, natural or juridical, with a proprietary interest or who is an abutter, owner or occupant of a neighbouring property whose personal interest may be affected by the act complained of. The Board may also file a complaint of its own when, in the exercise of its functions, it learns of violations.

• Having a proprietary interest, or being an abutter, owner or occupant of a neighbouring property whose personal interest may be affected by the act complained of.Verified against the official source
• That the complaint rest on one of the grounds the regulation fixes and not be a collateral attack on a final determination that should have been challenged in time.Verified against the official source
• Giving enough information to identify and locate the property: if Board staff cannot find the place complained of, the complaint is filed away.Verified against the official source
• Answering within ten (10) natural days any notice of deficiencies, or the complaint is filed away.Verified against the official source

• Full name of the complainant and of the respondent; if the respondent’s is unknown, any other information allowing identification.
• Physical address of both parties; if the respondent’s is unknown, any information allowing the property referred to in the complaint to be identified.
• Postal address, e-mail and telephone of both parties, if available.
• A statement of the facts giving rise to the complaint and of the applicable statutory, regulatory and case-law provisions; and, where applicable, a reference to and copy of the final determination complained of.
• The remedy sought.
• Copies of every document, photograph or other evidence supporting the allegations.

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   Step 1: First: do you have standing?

   The regulation does not open the door to anyone. The following may file a complaint against a natural or juridical person or a public entity before the Board’s Audits and Complaints Division: any agency, dependency or instrumentality of the Government of Puerto Rico acting for the public interest; or a private person, natural or juridical, with a proprietary interest or who is an abutter, owner or occupant of a neighbouring property whose personal interest may be affected by the act complained of. If you are neither the owner, nor an abutter, nor an occupant of an affected neighbouring property, you are not on the list. What can happen is that an agency files the complaint for the public interest, or that the Board itself files one when in the exercise of its functions it learns of the violation.

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   Step 2: The four grounds

   There are four grounds for filing a complaint and they are fixed: breach of the provisions or conditions of issued permits; the absence of a required permit; the use of a false, fraudulent or altered permit; or breach of any provision of Ley 161-2009, the enabling acts of the government entities concerned, Ley 81-1991, the Joint Regulation itself or any other applicable regulation. And there is a prohibition closing a shortcut many people try: under no circumstances may a complaint be used to make a collateral attack on a final determination or permit that should have been challenged in time under Ley 161-2009. If the permit was approved and you did not challenge it within the term, a complaint will not undo that.

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   Step 3: Where it is filed

   Complaints are filed on the SUI portal, or on any other electronic system the Board selects for filing complaints. Those filed with the Board are handled by the staff authorised for that purpose; those filed to be handled by autonomous municipalities are handled by the municipalities. There is one exception with an address of its own: complaints against Authorised Professionals, Authorised Inspectors or Licensed Professionals are filed at the Planning Board’s Clerk Office, PO Box 41119, San Juan, PR 00940-1119, or by any other method the Board establishes. That address is printed in the regulation and we quote it from there.

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   Step 4: What the complaint must say

   The contents are fixed: full name of complainant and respondent — and if you do not have the respondent’s full name, any other information allowing identification; the physical address of both, and if you do not have the respondent’s, any information allowing the property to be identified; postal address, e-mail and telephone of both, if available; the statement of facts giving rise to the complaint and of the applicable statutory, regulatory and case-law provisions; where applicable, a reference to and copy of the final determination complained of; the remedy sought; and copies of every document, photograph or other supporting evidence. The photographs matter more than they seem: they are what the inspector will compare against what is found on site.

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   Step 5: Ten days to cure, and two ways it gets filed away

   Before starting any adjudication process, the Audits and Complaints Division will notify the complainant of any deficiency in the complaint filed or non-compliance with the content requirements. That notice grants ten natural days to cure or explain. If no answer is received within that term, the Division will file the complaint away. And there is a second cause of dismissal that depends entirely on you: if the information provided does not let Board staff find the place complained of, it will be filed away. That is why the address, the coordinates, the landmarks and the photographs are worth more than the legal argument.

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   Step 6: Thirty days to start investigating

   The Board, the autonomous municipality with hierarchy I to III or the government entity concerned will begin investigating the alleged facts within thirty natural days, counted from when the complaint is deemed filed. Within that same term the complainant will be notified of the steps taken, and that notice is given by publishing the information in the case’s digital record — meaning you have to go and look. If the complaint alleges a violation of laws or regulations administered by another government entity, the Division will refer the complaint to that entity within the same thirty natural days. Two warnings: this term does not apply to complaints against Authorised Professionals, Authorised Inspectors or Licensed Professionals; and if deficiencies were notified, the term begins to run only once you cure or explain them all to the Board’s satisfaction.

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   Step 7: What the Compliance Inspector can do

   A Board Compliance Inspector starts the investigation, and their powers are broad. They may review physical and electronic files; carry out inspections to corroborate the allegations; enter, access and examine any property — establishments, properties, premises, equipment, facilities and documents — of any natural or juridical person subject to their jurisdiction; take notes, photographs, measurements, estimates and a record of any data observed; interview people with knowledge of the matters; seek the assistance of the Court of First Instance if the party investigated does not give access to the place or the information; and administer oaths during their investigations — oaths which, the regulation says, do not cancel internal-revenue stamps. They may also issue cease and desist orders, immediate stop-work orders, orders to correct curable errors, and orders suspending basic services and utilities where a permit is absent, its conditions are breached, a false permit is used or the law or regulations are breached. And they may recommend an audit and take notice of violations that were not in your complaint.

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   Step 8: The Investigation Report

   The designated staff render an Investigation Report with all the technical information on the findings: complaint number; date and time of the inspections; a concise statement of the allegations; a copy, reference or digital link to the final determinations relating to the property; contact details for the complainant, the respondent and the people present or interviewed; identification of the place, preferably georeferenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83) coordinate system or whichever the Board determines; and a description of the findings. That description covers existing structures and unauthorised works with the design and construction parameters observed; the use observed; the permit conditions breached; in the case of unauthorised work or use, which permit should have been obtained and which provision requires it; and, in the case of signs or advertisements, the text, the dimensions of the wall, those of the sign and its height where it stands on the ground. Plus the photographs. The report is referred to the Permit Audit Officer so that, where warranted, the Board issues the Notice of Findings and Order to Show Cause.

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   Step 9: Sixty days and what can come of it

   The Permit Audit Officer, or the person designated by the Board, will issue a Notice of Findings and Order to Show Cause on the investigated complaint within sixty natural days, counted from when the complaint is deemed filed — a term that likewise does not apply to complaints against Authorised Professionals, Authorised Inspectors or Licensed Professionals. That notice is an interlocutory determination of the Board; the final determination comes later. If the investigation shows the allegations are true or that a violation exists, an administrative fine will be issued under Chapter 11.4, or the procedure in Chapter 11.6 may be started to require the stopping, legalisation, cure or rectification of the works, the revocation of the permit or any other authorised action. If the allegations cannot be confirmed or there is no violation, the complaint is filed away.

On the SUI portal, or on whichever electronic system the Planning Board selects for filing complaints. Complaints against Authorised Professionals, Authorised Inspectors or Licensed Professionals are filed at the Planning Board’s Clerk Office, PO Box 41119, San Juan, PR 00940-1119, or by any other method the Board establishes. If the complaint is filed to be handled by an autonomous municipality, the municipality handles it.

• Filing without being an owner, abutter or occupant of an affected neighbouring property.
• Using the complaint to attack an already-approved permit that was not challenged in time.
• Describing the property so that the inspector cannot find it.
• Letting the ten natural days to cure the notified deficiencies lapse.
• Waiting for a letter instead of checking the case’s digital record.
• Not including photographs or documents supporting the allegations.
• Filing through SUI a complaint against an Authorised Professional, which goes to the Clerk Office.
• Counting the thirty or sixty days in complaints against professionals, where those terms do not apply.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Junta de Planificación de Puerto Rico (JP)

  Junta de Planificación

  docs.pr.gov

• Puerto Rico Planning Board

  jp

  jp.pr.gov