You lent something: six months from its return to claim the damage

They are Articles 1469, 1470 and 1471 of the Civil Code of 2020: when the good may be demanded back early, what happens if the borrower dies, and in what time the actions for deterioration prescribe.

Lenders and borrowers under a commodatum contract governed by the Puerto Rico Civil Code.

• To demand the return before the term: that the lender need the good by reason of an unforeseen and urgent circumstance, or that the borrower use it for a purpose other than the agreed one.Verified against the official source
• The commodatum is extinguished by the death of the borrower, save a different agreement or a purpose that cannot be suspended.Verified against the official source
• The lender’s actions for the deterioration or modification of the good prescribe in six months counted from the return.Verified against the official source

• The record of the return date: the six months of Article 1471 run from there.
• The record of the good’s condition on return, if you are going to claim deterioration or modification.
• The record of the agreed purpose, if what you allege is that the good was used for another.

1. 1

   Step 1: Asking early: first ground, your need

   Article 1469: the lender may demand the return before the agreed term where it needs the good by reason of an unforeseen and urgent circumstance. Both adjectives sit together in the text: urgency alone will not do if it was foreseeable, nor will unforeseeability if nothing presses.

2. 2

   Step 2: Second ground: it is being used otherwise

   The same article: or where the borrower uses the good for a purpose other than the agreed one. Here no need of the lender is required; the diverted use suffices.

3. 3

   Step 3: Why setting the purpose matters

   The commodatum’s definition requires delivering the good for a determined purpose, and here is what that is for: with no agreed purpose it is hard to argue another is being given. The Code does not describe how the return is demanded — no form, no notice, no period — and this guide does not invent one.

4. 4

   Step 4: If the one who received the good dies

   Article 1470: the commodatum is extinguished by the death of the borrower. That is the rule, and it has two written exceptions.

5. 5

   Step 5: The two exceptions

   The same article: except where something different has been agreed, or the good has been given in commodatum for a purpose that cannot be suspended. The second looks at the nature of the task, not at the parties’ will.

6. 6

   Step 6: It says nothing about the lender’s death

   The article names only the borrower. The Code carries no rule here for the death of the one who lent, and this guide supplies none. If that is your case, seeking advice beats reading between the lines.

7. 7

   Step 7: Six months to claim the damage

   Article 1471: the lender’s actions for the deterioration or modification of the good prescribe in six months counted from the return. It is the chapter’s shortest period and worth keeping in mind the day the thing comes back.

8. 8

   Step 8: The clock starts at the return

   Not from when the damage happened, nor from when you learned of it: from the return. Which is why checking the good and documenting its condition the same day it comes back matters.

9. 9

   Step 9: It speaks of deterioration or modification

   Those are the article’s two words. It does not mention total loss of the good, and this guide does not stretch the six-month period to a situation the text does not name. Nor does it say whether that period admits interruption, or how.

The contract runs between lender and borrower; the Code names no agency for this chapter. Claims for deterioration or modification, and any judicial demand for the return, belong to the Court of First Instance.

• Letting the six months of Article 1471 pass before claiming the deterioration.
• Counting that period from the damage rather than from the return, which is what the article says.
• Taking the good back without checking it or documenting its condition that same day.
• Demanding the good early for an urgent but foreseeable circumstance: the article requires both.
• Lending without setting the determined purpose and then alleging another use was given.
• Assuming the commodatum survives the borrower’s death with no agreement and no unsuspendable purpose.
• Looking in Article 1470 for a rule on the lender’s death: it speaks only of the borrower.
• Stretching the six-month period to total loss of the good, which the article does not name.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico

  Poder Judicial

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov