The wall dividing two houses: whose it is and who repairs it

It is Chapter IV of Title IV of Book Three of the Civil Code of 2020, Articles 860 to 870. The Code calls it medianería and defines it as the set of rights and obligations arising from the existence and common enjoyment of a wall, fence, paling or other dividing element by the owners of contiguous buildings or plots.

It applies to owners of contiguous buildings or plots sharing a wall, fence, paling or other dividing element. To acquire medianería by usucapión, the contiguous owner must behave for fifteen years as co-owner of the dividing element.

• That there be no title and no exterior sign contrary to the medianería, because either one defeats the presumption.Verified against the official source
• To acquire it by usucapión, behaving for fifteen years as co-owner of the dividing element.Verified against the official source
• To rest constructions or insert beams, the prior consent of the other medianeros and not impeding their use.Verified against the official source
• To open windows or openings, the other medianero’s consent.Verified against the official source
• To escape contributing to the charges, renouncing the medianería, unless the wall supports a building of one’s own.Verified against the official source

• The constituting title, if there is one: Article 862 puts it first, before the Code and the other laws.
• Evidence of the exterior sign, because on it depends whether the wall is shared or one neighbour’s alone.

1. 1

   Step 1: Careful with the word: there are two medianerías

   In Puerto Rico the word medianería names two unrelated things. This guide covers the Civil Code one: the wall, fence or paling dividing two neighbouring properties. The other is Act 24 of 1978, about the medianero who works someone else’s farm under a written profit-sharing contract. Nothing that follows applies to that one.

2. 2

   Step 2: The law starts by presuming it belongs to both

   Article 863 says medianería is presumed, absent a title or exterior sign to the contrary, in the dividing walls of contiguous buildings up to the common point of elevation, and in the walls, railings, ditches and live hedges situated between two plots. Note the limit: up to the common point of elevation, no higher.

3. 3

   Step 3: The seven signs that make it one owner’s alone

   Article 864 lists them: that the dividing walls of the buildings have open windows or openings; that the wall be straight and plumb on one side over its whole surface and on the other show the same at the top with an inclination towards one side at the bottom; that the whole wall or railing be built on one plot’s land and not half on each; that the wall bear the loads of beams, floors and frames of one plot and not the contiguous one; that the sloped rooflet drain towards one of the properties; that the wall show projecting stones that at intervals stick out on one side only; and that plots contiguous to others defended by walls, railings, palings or live hedges be themselves unenclosed. In all these cases ownership is understood to belong exclusively to the owner of the plot that has the presumption in its favour.

4. 4

   Step 4: How it is acquired

   Article 861 names three routes: juridical act, usucapión or apparent sign. To acquire it by usucapión, the contiguous owner must behave for fifteen years as co-owner of the dividing element. And it is acquired by apparent sign where a dividing element exists between two plots belonging to a single owner and one of them is transferred.

5. 5

   Step 5: Who pays for the repair

   Article 865 settles it: the medianeros must contribute pro rata to the conservation, repair or reconstruction of the shared element, whether they use it or not. And it opens an exit with a limit: any owner may excuse themselves from contributing by renouncing the medianería, except where the party wall supports a building of theirs. Whoever leans on the wall cannot renounce it.

6. 6

   Step 6: If you want to demolish your own building

   Article 866 lets an owner of a building resting on a party wall likewise renounce the medianería if they want to demolish it, but all the repairs and works needed to avoid, that one time only, the damage the demolition may cause the party wall are at their cost. The phrase "that one time only" is the Code’s, not ours.

7. 7

   Step 7: Raising it higher

   Article 867 allows it and bills for it. Any medianero may raise the party wall, and the repair expenses and any others the greater height demands are at their cost; they must also indemnify the harm the work causes, even if temporary. Likewise at their cost are the wall’s conservation expenses in the raised part or in however far its foundations were deepened, and the indemnity of the greater conservation expenses caused by that height or depth. And if the party wall cannot bear the greater elevation, the neighbour who wants to raise it must rebuild it at their own cost; if greater thickness is needed for that, they must give it from their own soil.

8. 8

   Step 8: And how the neighbour buys into the new part

   Article 868 opens the door to whoever did not pay: the other medianeros who did not contribute to giving the wall more elevation, depth or thickness may acquire medianería rights in it by paying proportionally the cost of the work and half the value of the land on which greater thickness was given.

9. 9

   Step 9: Beams yes, windows no

   Article 869 lets a medianero rest constructions or insert beams in the party wall, but without impeding the others’ use and with their prior consent; and if consent is not obtained, experts may fix the conditions needed for the new work to proceed without harming their rights. Article 870 leaves no such exit: no medianero may open windows or openings in the party wall without the other’s consent.

These are rules between neighbours: they are asserted between the parties or before the Court of First Instance. Article 869 expressly names experts to fix the conditions of a work when consent is missing. The Civil Code designates no agency to apply them.

• Taking for granted that the wall is shared: seven exterior signs make it one neighbour’s alone.
• Believing the presumption reaches to the top: it only reaches the common point of elevation.
• Refusing to pay for the repair because you do not use the wall: you must contribute pro rata anyway.
• Renouncing the medianería while having a building resting on the wall.
• Demolishing your own building without paying for the works to avoid damage to the shared element.
• Raising the wall and passing the greater-height expenses to the neighbour.
• Opening a window in the shared wall without the other’s consent.
• Inserting beams without the other medianeros’ prior consent.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico

  Poder Judicial

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov