Filing a permit in the SUI: 10% on submission, five days to validate and the remaining 90%

It is Rule 2.1.9 of Chapter 2.1 of Joint Regulation No. 9473, governing how any application related to land development and use is filed: permits, licences, consultations, certifications, authorizations and complaints. It does not decide whether the project is approved; it decides when an application exists for legal purposes and what must be uploaded for it to exist.

Every application for recommendations, consultations, licences, authorizations, certifications or permits related to land development and use may be promoted by the property’s owner, optionee or duly authorized lessee, by themselves or through their authorized representative, or by the Agency Head or their authorized representative in the case of public projects. Applications under Law No. 135 of 15 June 1967, known as the Certifications Law, are promoted exclusively by the professionals designated in that law, who must attach evidence of active colegiación and of their licence’s currency at the Department of State, unless they use an OGPe-approved digital signature.

• Filing every required document electronically through the SUI, which generates a receipt notification constituting the filing date for all legal purposes.Verified against the official source
• Including the corresponding environmental compliance determination; in discretionary matters whose environmental route is an Environmental Impact Statement it suffices to have filed it, but the application is not adjudicated until DRNA issues the determination.Verified against the official source
• Including a digital aerial photo of the lot where OGPe’s portal does not include it, and uploading the lot’s geographic location per Rule 2.1.6 (State Plane Coordinate System) where the portal does not include it.Verified against the official source
• The property’s cadastre number; and if OGPe’s cadastral information does not match the proponent’s, filing a cadastral map clearly showing the adjoining properties, including those on the other side where the adjoining side is an access road or body of water.Verified against the official source
• Plans bearing the seal and signature of the licensed surveyor, engineer, architect or landscape architect responsible for certifying them, as a digital file oriented north and in DXF format or the one the JP determines, with the compliance certification the section reproduces.Verified against the official source
• For discretionary, adjudicative and quasi-legislative matters: a list of names, postal addresses and emails per the CRIM and Section 2.1.9.7 (Adjoining Owners).Verified against the official source
• Paying ten percent (10%) of the total filing fees at the time of submitting the application, and the remaining ninety percent (90%) within five (5) days of validation.Verified against the official source
• Curing the application within the maximum term of thirty (30) calendar days it stays open; once that passes without curing, the system proceeds to archive the application.Verified against the official source
• For every construction permit application: a certification of the work’s estimated value, which if not calculated with OGPe’s guides may not be lower than them.Verified against the official source

• Corresponding environmental compliance determination, or evidence of having filed the Environmental Impact Statement.
• Digital aerial photo of the lot at issue.
• Cadastral map with the adjoining properties, where OGPe’s cadastral information does not match the proponent’s.
• Plans sealed and signed by the licensed professional, as a digital file oriented north and in DXF format.
• Certification document by the professional who drew up, designed or prepared the plans and the supplementary specifications.
• Certification of the work’s estimated value, for every construction permit application.
• List of adjoining owners’ names, postal addresses and emails, for discretionary, adjudicative and quasi-legislative matters.
• For the professional under the Certifications Law: evidence of active colegiación and of the licence’s currency at the Department of State, unless an OGPe-approved digital signature is used.

1. 1

   Step 1: Everything goes through the SUI

   Applications related to property development, construction and use — licences, permits, inspections, complaints, certifications, consultations, authorizations and any process needed to operate a business — are processed and evaluated through the SUI, before OGPe, the JP, the autonomous municipalities with hierarchy I to III, the Authorized Professionals, the Authorized Inspectors or any other public instrumentality bearing on a business’s operation. The public has access to all non-confidential information the SUI holds about the applications filed.

2. 2

   Step 2: The documents the section lists

   The list is long and worth assembling before opening the application: the corresponding environmental compliance determination; a digital aerial photo of the lot where OGPe’s portal does not carry it; the lot’s geographic location per Rule 2.1.6; the cadastre number, with a cadastral map if OGPe’s information does not match the proponent’s; and the plans, which shall bear the seal and signature of the licensed surveyor, engineer, architect or landscape architect responsible for certifying them, as a digital file oriented north and in DXF format or the one the JP determines.

3. 3

   Step 3: The certification the professional signs

   The Regulation reproduces the text the designer must certify: that they are the professional who drew up, designed or prepared the plans and the supplementary specifications; that they understand those plans and specifications comply with the Joint Regulation and with the construction regulations and codes in force of the agencies, regulatory boards or public corporations with jurisdiction; and that Law 14-2004 was fully complied with in their preparation. The certification closes acknowledging that any false statement or falsification of the facts, through ignorance or negligence — their own, their agents’ or employees’, or other people’s with their knowledge — makes them liable to judicial and disciplinary action by OGPe.

4. 4

   Step 4: The payment split in two

   For all service applications ten percent of the total filing fees is paid at the time of submitting the application. The remaining ninety percent is paid afterwards, within five days of the application’s validation, and only then is it deemed filed. The concrete fee is the one in the Administrative Collection Order, unless it is a Concerned Governmental Entity exempt from cancelling stamps and paying duties. Where the application goes through an Authorized Professional, they remit the applicant’s payment to OGPe together with the application.

5. 5

   Step 5: Thirty days to cure, or archiving

   No incomplete service application is accepted. Where additional information or documentation not in this section is requested, the applicant has a maximum term of thirty days to submit it. The application stays open for a maximum term of thirty calendar days for the applicant to cure it, and once that term passes without curing, uploading and electronically returning everything required, the filing system proceeds to archive the application. A note on the source: the section sets both thirty-day terms without saying whether they are the same one counted twice; we do not resolve that for it.

6. 6

   Step 6: Validation is what makes it exist

   Once the application is complete and all documents uploaded, it is validated within a term of no more than five business days. Every application filed before OGPe gets a unique project number to be referenced in every document, correspondence or information request. And the sentence to memorize: the application shall not be considered filed, nor shall any term associated with it begin to run, until it has been validated. All documents must be uploaded to the SUI, which generates a receipt notification constituting the filing date for all legal purposes.

7. 7

   Step 7: The work’s estimated value

   Every construction permit application submits a certification of the work’s estimated value. To calculate it, the designer may use the guides OGPe adopts or any other mechanism within their specialized knowledge or experience, with one condition: if OGPe’s guides were not used, the estimate may not be lower than them. And if the final total construction cost exceeds the estimate, the applicant pays the fee and cancels additional stamps for the difference, as an Amendment to the Construction Permit, together with amended plans certified by the designer.

8. 8

   Step 8: If there is no internet

   Section 2.1.9.4 opens a door worth knowing: where the petitioner has no internet access or cannot use the system, the service application may be filed by the expressly authorized person directly at the Customer Service Unit, at any of OGPe’s Regional Offices, at the autonomous municipality with hierarchy I to III, or at any other filing centre established administratively.

In the SUI, the Unified Information System, through which applications are processed and evaluated before OGPe, the JP, the autonomous municipalities with hierarchy I to III, the Authorized Professionals and the Concerned Governmental Entities. Without internet access or unable to use the system, the application is filed at the Customer Service Unit, at an OGPe Regional Office, at the autonomous municipality with hierarchy I to III or at any other filing centre established administratively.

• Counting terms from when the application was uploaded, when no term runs until it is validated.
• Paying only the initial ten percent and not the remaining ninety within five days of validation.
• Letting the thirty calendar days the application stays open pass without curing it, after which the system archives it.
• Filing without the corresponding environmental compliance determination.
• Assuming filing the Environmental Impact Statement suffices for adjudication, when the application is not adjudicated until DRNA issues the determination.
• Uploading plans without the seal and signature of the licensed professional responsible for certifying them.
• Submitting plans in a format other than DXF or without orienting them north.
• Not filing a cadastral map where OGPe’s cadastral information does not match the proponent’s.
• Omitting the list of adjoining owners with names, postal addresses and emails in discretionary, adjudicative and quasi-legislative matters.
• Calculating the work’s estimated value below OGPe’s guides where those guides were not used.
• Not paying the difference as an Amendment to the Construction Permit where the final cost exceeds the estimate.
• Believing one cannot file without internet access, when the alternate in-person filing method exists.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Oficina de Gerencia de Permisos (OGPe)

  OGPe

  docs.pr.gov

• OGPe Single Business Portal

  ogpe

  www.permisos.pr.gov

• Planning Board

  jp

  jp.pr.gov