How to apply for public housing in Puerto Rico
The 22 documents AVP requires to file, the online application, and why they will not file if something is missing.
August 13, 2026
Housing
Housing assistance, property titles and housing programs.
194 guides
How to apply for Section 8 in Puerto Rico
Basic admission requirements, where the application is, and the AVP notice about new applications you should read first.
August 13, 2026
How to request materials assistance to repair your home in Puerto Rico
The Department of Housing program, the 15 requirements it demands, and the three quotes most people do not expect.
August 13, 2026
Homeless or at risk of losing your home: the ESG Programme
Shelter, rapid rehousing and prevention. The Coordinated Entry System attends at the moment of the call, without an appointment.
August 14, 2026
Hogar seguro: protecting your primary residence from seizure
Act 195-2011 protects your primary residence from seizure for debts. What it covers, its exceptions (a mortgage is not stopped), and how to claim it.
August 27, 2026
Renting a home: what the landlord owes and what you owe
Landlord and tenant duties under the 2020 Civil Code: repairs, the 7-day notice to inspect, and when the contract can be terminated.
August 16, 2026
Property Registry: how to request a registry certification
The two kinds of certification the Registry issues, the 60-day deadline the law sets, and what to do if the registrar does not issue it.
August 16, 2026
Co-owned property: how it is managed and how it is divided
A co-owner is not required to remain in the community: they may demand division at any time. And management is decided by quota value, not by headcount.
August 16, 2026
Your land has no road access: the right of way
Anyone without sufficient access to a public road can demand passage from their neighbours. And if a split left the plot landlocked, no indemnity is owed.
August 17, 2026
Something shaded your solar panels: the right to solar and wind energy
The 2020 Code gives you a right to the sun and wind reaching your land, bans shading a neighbour with trees, and voids any agreement limiting it.
August 17, 2026
You do not know where your land ends: fixing and marking boundaries
A deslinde fixes blurred boundaries and amojonamiento marks them. The action never prescribes, but a neighbour can still gain ground by prescription.
August 17, 2026
Generator warranty: repair, deadlines and getting your money back
Act 107-2019 requires honoring warranties on new generators and creates a special action that can end in contract resolution and a refund.
August 23, 2026
Contractor registry: how to check it before you sign
Act 146-1995 creates a public Contractor Registry at DACO, with bond and certification. What to demand before hiring and how long you have to claim.
August 23, 2026
Roof sealing: the contractor needs a licence, not just a brush
Act 281-2000 requires a Board licence to waterproof, seal or repair roofs. What to ask before they climb up, and what the law excludes.
August 23, 2026
Challenging your condominium Board: 30 days and a new court
Since July 2026 challenges go to a specialized court division with exclusive jurisdiction. You have 30 days.
August 23, 2026
Maintenance fees: penalties, service cut-offs and inherited debt
The Board may cut services after two unpaid instalments, but first it must evaluate a payment plan with you. And buying an apartment inherits the debt.
August 23, 2026
Moved out for a public works project: who pays the move
Act 94-1966 authorizes DTOP and the Highway Authority to compensate moving expenses for anyone forced to leave a property acquired for public works.
August 23, 2026
Safe Plans: four house designs OGPe gives you for free
OGPe and FEMA publish four house models you can download at no cost. They do not replace the engineer, but they save you the plan.
August 15, 2026
Correcting the recorded area: your deed says one size, the land another
OGPe certifies the survey of your lot to correct the area recorded in the Property Registry. Filing costs $30.
August 15, 2026
Subdividing or lotting out land: the Registration Plans Authorization
To divide an estate and record the new lots, OGPe must approve the registration plans. It costs $15 per lot.
August 15, 2026
The construction permit: what it asks for and why yours may not be “ministerial”
One permit covers urbanization, construction and demolition. If it is ministerial it moves fast; OGPe publishes exactly what disqualifies it.
August 15, 2026
When what you want to build does not fit the district’s parameters
The Construction Consultation is the route for requesting variances to construction parameters. Filing starts at $150.
August 15, 2026
The fire prevention certification for an apartment building
It goes inside the use permit for a multifamily residence, and OGPe or a private Authorized Inspector can issue it.
August 15, 2026
Your deed carries CRUV conditions and they are blocking the sale
To sell, refinance, mortgage or remove the extinct CRUV’s restrictive conditions you need the Housing Department’s authorization.
August 15, 2026
Housing denied you: you have 20 days, and the clock starts earlier than you think
Regulation 9618 sets the procedure for reconsidering and reviewing a resolution of the Housing Department and its attached agencies.
August 15, 2026
Which Housing Department office is yours
The Housing Department’s ten regional offices, with address, telephone and the municipalities each one serves.
August 15, 2026
Condominium complaint with DACO: horizontal property
The seven causes the form lets you tick — illegal assessment, challenge to an assembly, improper cut-off of services and four more.
August 14, 2026
Eviction in Puerto Rico: the full court process
Forcing someone out without a judgment is illegal. The $60 or $90 in stamps, the 5 days to appeal, and the protections for insolvent families.
August 14, 2026
Usucapión in Puerto Rico: acquiring property by possession, and getting the title
The four requirements, the terms that changed on 28 November 2020, and the declaratory action to register in the Property Registry.
August 14, 2026
Work on a historic property or zone: the ICP recommendation
Even painting the façade needs an ICP recommendation. And the historic zone reaches further than you think: it includes all 78 municipal plazas.
August 15, 2026
Archaeology before you build: the ICP review
The ICP reviews construction projects for archaeological impact, and you can consult it before buying or developing. Two councils: terrestrial and subaquatic.
August 15, 2026
Flood zones: Puerto Rico’s two maps and which one governs
Puerto Rico uses the FIRM maps and, since 2018, the ABFE maps. For building or substantially improving a property, the more restrictive of the two always applies.
August 15, 2026
Coastal zone: how far it reaches and when you need certification
It runs 1,000 metres inland and 9 nautical miles out to sea. A project with a federal permit or federal funds inside it needs certification from the Junta.
August 15, 2026
Mortgage foreclosure: the mandatory mediation the court cannot skip
If they sue to foreclose on your principal residence, mediation is a jurisdictional requirement: without it no judgment can be entered and no judicial sale held.
August 24, 2026
Student lodging: the DACO licence that must be on display
No student lodging may operate without a DACO licence, and your lease must certify the place complies with Act 48-1990 and its regulation.
August 24, 2026
Recycling area: new housing complexes must designate one
Act 61-2002 requires designating a recyclable material recovery area in every new housing complex, with $5,000 to $10,000 fines for failing to.
August 24, 2026
School zone: 100 metres, 200 radial, and which businesses cannot be there
Act 84-1988 defines the school zone as 100 linear metres and 200 radial, and limits noxious businesses to operating outside school hours.
August 24, 2026
Where a crematorium may be: industrial zoning and 50 metres from residential
Act 55-2006 limits crematoria to industrial or unzoned areas and bars authorising operation within fifty metres of a residential zone.
August 24, 2026
The plumber, their licence and the 30-day warranty certification
Act 59-2022 defines a 30-day warranty certification, requires an installation certification under penalty of perjury, and punishes hiring unlicensed plumbers.
August 24, 2026
Eviction of veterans, older adults and people with disabilities
Act 31-2026 makes the court notify the matching Ombudsman, demand a report in 30 days, and grants 20 non-extendable days before the eviction.
August 25, 2026
Vacant and abandoned housing: the special procedure and its deadlines
Act 118-1980 requires prior certified-mail notice with 15 days to appear, a hearing within 20 days and a court ruling in 5 days.
August 26, 2026
Municipal lots in urban centers: registration and your preferred purchase right
If you occupy a municipal lot in the urban center, Act 182-2026 lets it be registered without prior subdivision, and gives you preference if it is sold.
August 26, 2026
Permit to extract sand, gravel and stone, and how to object to it
OGPe grants the permit and DRNA oversees it. If the extraction is near your home, you have a right to a public hearing in your town.
August 27, 2026
They want to evict you from a home you contributed to: the community-of-property defence
Since Act 95-2026 you can present evidence of what you contributed and demand the eviction go through the ordinary route, not the summary one.
August 27, 2026
Out-of-state divorce: when you no longer need exequátur at the Registry
Act 94-2026 removes exequátur when a US state judgment is used only to prove your civil status in the deed.
August 27, 2026
Converting a condominium into a condohotel: what Act 11-2026 requires
It takes all the owners plus authorisation from OGPe or the municipality. What the new Article 9.-103 says and how the decision is taken.
August 27, 2026
Condominium rules: how to get them before you buy
Act 13-2026 obliges the manager to hand over the rules within five business days to the listing broker or to a buyer who asks.
August 27, 2026
Stopping work or revoking a permit: the 10% bond and what to allege
Act 82-2026 requires alleging imminent harm and a bond of no less than 10% of the project’s value in every paralization request, judicial or administrative.
August 28, 2026
Selling or segregating: no appraisal, survey or title study required
Act 168-2026 removed from the notarial informative return the appraisal, survey plan and title study that Act 52-2022 had added.
August 28, 2026
Pesticides: who may fumigate and what you can demand
Act 49-1953 requires a licence for the business and certification for the person applying pesticides, plus Agriculture registration of every product sold here.
August 29, 2026
Loss mitigation before you lose the house
Act 169-2016 bars the creditor from starting collection once it receives your loss-mitigation request, and forbids refusing partial payments.
August 30, 2026
Title to the plot when your house sits on someone else’s land
Act 132-1975 lets the Housing Department grant plot title to the occupant: one dollar for low-income families, or a percentage of the appraisal.
August 30, 2026
Title to a plot that is encumbered or affected
Act 286-1999 lets the Secretary of Housing unblock encumbered plots by regulation and grant title to the occupant, free of notarial and registry fees.
August 30, 2026
Social-interest housing subsidy
Act 124-1993 subsidises the monthly mortgage payment and part of the down payment, with restrictive conditions and a six-year clawback.
August 30, 2026
Does your real estate broker have a licence?
Act 10-1994 requires displaying the licence, holding your deposit in escrow and posting a bond, and publishes a registry with adjudicated complaints.
August 30, 2026
Conservation easement and its tax credit
Act 183-2001 lets you encumber your land in perpetuity to conserve it, with a 50% tax credit and property tax exemption.
August 30, 2026
What can be done on land in the karst zone
Act 292-1999 bars ten activities in the karst zone without a DRNA permit, with fines up to $25,000, and exempts conserved farms from property tax.
August 30, 2026
Cutting trees and classifying an auxiliary forest
The Forest Act bars cutting certain trees without a permit, limits felling to weekdays 6 a.m.–6 p.m., and exempts auxiliary forests from property tax.
August 30, 2026
Construction permits in a historic zone
Act 374-1949 requires the ICP’s written recommendation before any permit in a historic zone — colour and signs included in the review.
August 30, 2026
The list of buildings of historic value
If your private building is on the Act 3-1951 list, the permit rules of Act 374-1949 apply to it as if it stood in a historic zone.
August 30, 2026
Maintenance and claims in public housing
Act 66-1989 obliges the Public Housing Administration to maintain, clean and repair, and to handle residents’ service claims swiftly.
August 30, 2026
Modifying natural habitat: mitigation plan
Essential critical habitat may not be modified. Non-essential critical habitat needs vital public interest, and the compensation is at least three to one.
August 31, 2026
When a property is declared a public nuisance
Thirty days to request a hearing before an examining officer. If the town cleans up, the fine is quarterly, one to five thousand dollars, plus the lien.
August 31, 2026
Expropriating a declared nuisance property
Whoever wants the property fronts the appraisal plus ten per cent. On the summary route there are twenty days to answer and three years to claim compensation.
August 31, 2026
Complaint over housing unfit to live in
Five residents of the town can ask for a dwelling to be investigated. The hearing is set ten to thirty business days after the complaint is notified.
August 31, 2026
Municipal construction excise tax
It is paid before work starts, even if no permit is needed. The Finance Director answers in fifteen days and there are fifteen business days to pay.
September 1, 2026
The construction contractor’s payment bond
Any work over $15,000 requires a bond in favour of the Secretary of Labor, and starting without it is a felony.
September 2, 2026
The elevation certificate: who signs it and why it is required
Without this document no construction permit is approved in a regulatory flood zone. Only a surveyor signs it.
September 3, 2026
Substantial damage and improvement: the 50% rule in a flood zone
If repairing or improving costs half the structure’s value, your home must meet the full flood regulation.
September 3, 2026
What the Planning Board charges for each procedure
The fee schedule of Administrative Order JP-OA-2019-01: consultations, certifications, public hearings, copies and GIS data.
September 3, 2026
Assisted living housing: what it is and how it is certified
It is not a retirement home or a long-term facility. Regulation 7299 says who it serves, what certification costs, and what happens if you skip it.
September 3, 2026
Closing or building a carport: the measurements that govern
Ten feet wide, twenty long, thirteen high in the side yard, and windows five feet from the boundary.
September 3, 2026
How high a fence may be in Puerto Rico
One metre at the front, two at the sides and rear, and two at the front with a grille under 25% solid.
September 3, 2026
The variance: when your lot does not meet its district
There are two different variances and a hard requirement. The Joint Regulation says variances are not favoured.
September 3, 2026
The Resident Council: how it is formed and elected
Five to thirteen members, secret ballot, quorum by project size, and ten per cent to remove it.
September 3, 2026
The septic system permit for a home
What OGPe asks to authorise a septic tank, the inspection before covering, and who answers for prior contamination.
September 3, 2026
Reviewing a permit: twenty days and forty-eight hours
The term to challenge an OGPe determination is jurisdictional, and notifying the other parties is too.
September 3, 2026
Tiny houses: from 170 to 1,100 square feet, and where they fit
The Joint Regulation does allow them, with a table of measurements of their own and separate rules for communities of four to ten units.
September 3, 2026
Complaint about unpermitted work or a business
Only someone with a proprietary interest or an abutter may file, and if the place cannot be found, it is filed away.
September 3, 2026
Permit fines: how the amount charged is calculated
A $500 base or double the permit cost, multiplied by severity, and each day it continues is a separate violation.
September 3, 2026
Lifts: who may install them and what must be filed
If the company is not registered with PROSHA, the equipment cannot be certified, however well the work was done.
September 3, 2026
Reasonable accommodation in housing: you need not even write it down
The request may be verbal, need not use those words, and a missing form cannot delay or deny it.
September 3, 2026
Your subsidised flat: what it must have and who inspects it
If the project does not fix the deficiencies in ninety days it loses the subsidy, and cannot charge it to you.
September 3, 2026
If your subsidy is cancelled: the seven causes and mediation
Before any complaint you must go to mediation, and the project’s administration pays for the mediator.
September 3, 2026
The annual subsidy review: do not wait to be called
You must hand in the documents even if the project does not ask, and report any income change in writing.
September 3, 2026
Legal non-conformity: the two years and the fifty per cent
Close for more than two years and you lose the protection; if damage exceeds 50% you cannot rebuild for the same use.
September 3, 2026
Telecommunications tower near your home: distances, notices and bans
Tower height plus 10% to the nearest residence, plus 50 metres beside schools, and notice within 100 metres in 10 days.
September 3, 2026
Parcel or lot under Title V of the Land Act: who qualifies and how the draw works
Being an agregado, six months in Puerto Rico and the regulation’s income limits; then a draw with priorities and a lifetime usufruct.
September 3, 2026
Planning Board permit audit: what it reviews and how it ends
The Board audits final determinations and permits already issued; it can end in a fine, a stoppage or revocation.
September 4, 2026
Reconsideration before the Planning Board: twenty days and what follows
A jurisdictional term of 20 calendar days, six mandatory contents, and 30 days for the Court of Appeals.
September 4, 2026
Administrative hearing before the Planning Board: how it is set, held and decided
Fifteen days’ notice, a public hearing, the rules of evidence do not apply, and suspending it costs you the terms.
September 4, 2026
Going to the Court of First Instance over works or a permit
Injunction, mandamus or declaratory judgment to stop, revoke or demolish; but filing kills the administrative complaint.
September 4, 2026
Environmental compliance in permits: REA, EA, DIA and categorical exclusion
No environmental compliance determination means no final determination, and the REA precedes every EA or DIA.
September 4, 2026
Master Plan: how it is filed, adopted and how long it lasts
Twelve initial contents, twelve filing requirements, a public hearing, a Governor’s Executive Order and five years’ validity.
September 4, 2026
Electrical works: when a recommendation is needed and the seven days to energise
Seven cases require a prior AEE recommendation, and once energising is requested the maximum term is seven days.
September 4, 2026
Social-interest residential project: relaxed parameters, fee exemption and the reserved 5%
Lots from 100 square metres, eleven-metre streets, impact-fee exemption with the Secretary’s certification, and five per cent of units reserved.
September 4, 2026
Accessory buildings and uses: the 25%, the two storeys and the seven metres
A home office, home occupation or salon may not exceed 25% of the dwelling’s area, and the building out back has height, occupancy and setback caps.
September 4, 2026
Opening an access to the road: the operational study and who accepts the works
OGPe grants the permit and the Permiso Único, but the DTOP accepts the built works, and the ACT may inspect within 25 metres of the road.
September 4, 2026
Getting a property declared historic: the fifty years and the emergency designation
Anyone may request the nomination, and where short-term demolition threatens, an emergency designation valid for six months is available.
September 4, 2026
Overlaid zones: the map layer that changes what you may do on your lot
Tourist, historic, school, special planning, port and risk zones, plus special planning areas and natural and agricultural reserves.
September 4, 2026
Permit process: five days to validate, thirty to cure and 180, 120 or 30 to decide
The terms the Joint Regulation fixes to validate an application, cure it and decide it, and the rule that provisional permits do not exist.
September 4, 2026
Which works need no construction permit: painting, roof sealing, changing windows
Thirteen activities are not construction works and ten minor works are exempt, but an Exempt Works Application must be filed and municipal excise taxes paid.
September 4, 2026
My land has no qualification: what rules apply in a non-qualified area
Where there is no qualification map the PUTPR is the reference, and a one- or two-family house is permitted ministerially.
September 4, 2026
Segregating land: the subdivision rules of the Joint Regulation
The nine prohibitions, lot shape, the 600 square metres and the three-segregation count running from 1964.
September 4, 2026
Roads, storm easements and grading in an urbanisation
Eleven metres minimum street width, six metres for an access easement, and why you cannot build over the storm easement in your yard.
September 4, 2026
Parks, courts and the school contribution: an urbanisation’s neighbourhood facilities
One play area per hundred lots, 6.2 square metres per lot for schools, and the exemption when what you are subdividing is an inheritance.
September 4, 2026
Changing a lot’s qualification: maps, maximum sizes and effective dates
Table 7.1’s maximum sizes by district, what is filed, and the fifteen days from publication to effect.
September 4, 2026
Habitat Categorisation Certification: the DRNA paper that goes with your permit
What it is, who issues it, the three things it must certify, and why the mitigation it states ends up inside the environmental compliance determination.
September 4, 2026
Your project’s inspector and contractor: what they must certify
The contractor’s sworn certification, the inspector’s monthly report, the ten days to replace them and the involuntary-acquirer rule.
September 5, 2026
Amending plans, the horizontal property regime and a use permit for an existing building
What the designer may certify, As Built plans when the originals are gone, and the certified letter for buildings predating 1955.
September 5, 2026
Public land transactions before the Planning Board
Who may promote one, what is filed, the four-year term, the single extension and how revocation is sought.
September 5, 2026
Ministerial or discretionary permit: why some take days and others months
The ten parameters that define ministerial, each route’s deadlines, notice to neighbours and deemed approval by subrogation.
September 5, 2026
How long your permit lasts and how many extensions you may seek
The two years to obtain the permit and to start work, the six months for temporary use, and the construction permit’s two one-year extensions.
September 5, 2026
Incidental Operational Single Permit: moving earth, cutting trees and the CES Plan
The four permits it consolidates, the 40-cubic-metre and 900-square-metre thresholds, and five years’ validity with 90 days to renew.
September 5, 2026
How many trees must be planted: mitigation by cuerda, by cutting and by solar
Five trees per cuerda impacted, three, four or five per tree cut depending on DAP, one per solar and one per four parking spaces.
September 5, 2026
Planting standards: six feet tall, species proportions and the distances
What the tree you plant must be like, what proportion of natives and palms the regulation demands, and how far from corners, hydrants and power lines.
September 5, 2026
If you cannot plant: paying one hundred dollars per tree, planting elsewhere or donating land
The six proposals OGPe evaluates, the percentages that must be planted before cutting, and the one-hundred-dollar-per-tree cost.
September 5, 2026
Location consultation: which projects need one and what is filed
The seven situations requiring a location consultation, the commercial categories by square feet, and the process’s fifteen- and ten-day terms.
September 5, 2026
Excavating, extracting or dredging: the five permits, where none are issued and who is exempt
No one moves earth-crust components without a permit. The five permits OGPe issues, the twelve effects evaluated, the barred places and the five exemptions.
September 5, 2026
Where the earth you remove goes, the Restoration Plan and the bonds that hold up the permit
The receiving land’s requirements, who answers for restoring, and the policies whose lapse revokes the permit.
September 5, 2026
Formal Extraction Permit: quarries, rivers, dredging below the water table and the right to be heard
The seven triggers, the two dollars per cubic metre on public-domain property, and the thirty days a neighbour has to ask to intervene.
September 5, 2026
Simple Permit and Maintenance Permit: sixty days, two a year and reservoir dredging
The short permit for moving under a thousand cubic metres, the five things it never authorises, and the permit used to dredge a lake or clear an irrigation canal.
September 5, 2026
Blasting in quarries and works: the 72-hour notice, the seismographs and the inspection of your home
How explosives use is authorised in an extraction, and what rights a neighbour who sees cracks has: inspections, a seismograph and a complaint.
September 5, 2026
Historic zone and town plaza: the twelve permits, the ICP recommendation and what really is exempt
Painting the façade, major cleaning or an awning are separate permits. Which minor works are exempt and why the ICP still comes in.
September 5, 2026
Demolishing in a historic zone: irreversible ruin, the construction permit before knocking down, and non-conforming use
When an eligible and a non-eligible property may be demolished, why dismantling a wooden house counts as demolition, and non-conforming use.
September 5, 2026
What you can change in a historic house: windows, colours, balconies and the storey that is allowed
The Chapter 10.2 intervention standards: wood or metal windows, façade colours, the ban on enclosing balconies and opening new openings, and the rules on ruin.
September 5, 2026
The town plaza: what may be built in it, the trees, the furniture and the parking
Nothing enclosed in open space and only two per cent in open structures. The plaza rules, the pavements and the parking limits.
September 5, 2026
The nineteen ICP recommendations and certifications, and the thirty days it has to issue them
Which recommendation to request for which works, what documents go with every application, and what happens if the ICP does not answer in time.
September 5, 2026
Residential districts R-B, R-I and R-U: what can be built and to what measurements
The minimum lot, width, occupation, density and yards of the three residential districts, and the uses that come only by exception.
September 5, 2026
R-G Rural General district: what can be done on rural land
The uses the regulation allows on rural land, the twenty-five-cuerda minimum, and the cemetery and mobile-home exceptions.
September 5, 2026
Institutional districts D-G and D-A: the land of institutions and of open spaces
How the general institutional district works, taking its parameters from other districts, and the open-area one, where occupation does not exceed two per cent.
September 5, 2026
Conservation districts A-B, C-R and P-R: the forest, the resource and what is untouchable
What each conservation district allows, the fifty metres around caves, the hundred-metre riparian strip and the five mangrove types.
September 5, 2026
R-E and P-P districts: the scenic route and the public beach
The panoramic route’s height and visibility rules, the petrol station’s five hundred metres, and what the regulation requires of a public beach.
September 5, 2026
If your lot is smaller than the district requires: the tables that do apply
How much may be occupied, what rear yard is left and when you may build up to the boundary, plus the conversion to basic dwelling units.
September 6, 2026
Height, mezzanines, exceptions and solar heater: the parameters that apply in every district
A nine-metre base height, twice the road’s width, when a mezzanine does not count as a storey and why every new house carries a solar water heater.
September 6, 2026
What may be done in agricultural reserves, natural reserves and the towns around El Yunque
The location consultation in special areas: who recommends, which criteria apply, which uses fit in R-G, A-P, A-B and C-R, and the 400-square-metre minimum lot.
September 6, 2026
Tourist residential districts RT-I and RT-A: what is allowed and on what parameters
Intermediate and high density in the Tourist Interest Zones, holiday mobile-home projects and the guest-house rules.
September 6, 2026
District C-H: the historic or archaeological value that is not in the Register
Which uses fit, why segregation is nearly impossible, and why every authorisation goes through the ICP’s or OECH’s recommendation.
September 6, 2026
District M "To Be Improved" and district R-EA for open spaces: two qualifications that limit building
One can be requalified when conditions change; the other keeps its open-space condition in perpetuity and admits no new construction.
September 6, 2026
Terraced houses: six units per building, ten if the façade changes
A 150-square-metre minimum lot, six metres of frontage per unit, and the front yard that rises to six metres if there is no parking on the lot.
September 6, 2026
Patio houses: two hundred and fifty square metres of lot and up to two families
The parameters of Table 8.2 of the Joint Regulation: sixty-five per cent occupation, one hundred and thirty gross floor area and three metres in each yard.
September 6, 2026
Apartment houses: yards, separation between buildings and loading bay
Fifty per cent occupation, yards of three metres or one fifth of the height, and one loading space per forty units above fifteen.
September 6, 2026
How many flats fit on a lot: the density and gross floor area tables
Square metres per basic dwelling unit by lot size and district, plus what happens to the density if the lot is later lotified.
September 6, 2026
Public access to the beaches: the metres the law requires and what nobody may close
Every project bordering the coast must provide public access, dedicate it by deed and leave a twenty-metre public strip from the maritime-terrestrial zone.
September 6, 2026
Segregating or developing in the coastal zone: the public street, the eleven metres and the parking
Lots fronting the coast are separated from the public strip by a street, accesses never drop below eleven metres, and public parking is mandatory.
September 6, 2026
Seafront condominiums: perpendicular to the coast and with public access alongside
Eleven or more dwellings are processed as an urbanisation, buildings are oriented not to block the view, and giving an access earns a gross floor area bonus.
September 6, 2026
How far back from the sea you must build: two and a half times the height
The 400-metre rule and the 2.5-times-height setback, the three urban exemptions, the concessions and the one-hour shadow study.
September 6, 2026
Roads, sewerage and qualification maps in the coastal zone
What a coastal public work must meet, and how far the qualification map reaches: nine nautical miles out to sea and one kilometre inland.
September 6, 2026
Filing a permit in the SUI: 10% on submission, five days to validate and the remaining 90%
The application is not deemed filed and no term runs until it is validated, and it is archived if not cured within thirty days.
September 6, 2026
Who may apply for a permit: proving you are owner, optionee or lessee
Deed, lease, purchase option, registry certification or heirship declaration: one suffices, but one is required.
September 6, 2026
Notifying adjoining owners of a permit: who is on the list and how it is delivered
If a street or creek adjoins, the properties across it count; if a condominium, its association. Certified mail or personal delivery.
September 6, 2026
Intervening in someone else’s permit: seven factors, substitution of parties and the agencies’ thirty days
Any interested person may request intervention; the criteria are applied liberally and denial comes by grounded resolution.
September 6, 2026
The sign to post when applying for a permit: 4 by 8 feet, thirty days and three to prove it
It goes at the main entrance, parallel to the road, black letters on white; not posting it means the application is archived.
September 6, 2026
When a permit gets a public hearing: the five cases and how it is held
Location consultations, variances, calification changes, Environmental Impact Statements and Master Plans; in person, remote or both.
September 6, 2026
Public hearing notice: fifteen days, newspaper, radio and the date on the sign
Notification goes no less than fifteen days ahead, and the applicant publishes a newspaper notice and adds the date to the lot’s sign.
September 6, 2026
Taking part in a permit public hearing: the owner must attend or it is archived
Any person with a legitimate interest may speak; suspension is requested five days ahead and an absent owner loses the application.
September 6, 2026
Default and sanctions at a public hearing: five hundred dollars and twenty days for the report
The Rules of Evidence do not apply, ten days are allowed for post-hearing writings and the Hearing Officer may fine up to $500 per imposition.
September 6, 2026
Georeferencing plans: state plane coordinates, layered DXF and two inches of error
Projects creating parcels or changing topography must be georeferenced to the official system and certified by a surveyor.
September 6, 2026
The Pre-Consultation: asking OGPe for the list of permits before starting
Anyone may request a written orientation identifying the applicable laws and the permits that will be needed.
September 7, 2026
Requesting a copy of a permit file, and what each SUI process is
Any interested person may obtain a copy or certified copy of the SUI’s digital and historic files.
September 7, 2026
Submitting the plans: three files, a frame with twenty items and a 24 by 36 sheet
The DWG with the CEC, the plan in PDF and the CEC in PDF, named with the SUI case number and georeferenced in NAD 83.
September 7, 2026
How a CAD plan’s layers are named: V, four characters and hyphens
Two mandatory fields — discipline and major group — two optional, all in capitals and one geometry per layer.
September 7, 2026
How each plan element is drawn: PLINE, blocks and no arcs
Parcels and structures as closed polygons, topography and street centerlines as lines, control points as inserted blocks.
September 7, 2026
The CEC: what the Control Stations Certification asks for
An attribute block at coordinate 0,0,0 of the seed file, with no blanks, no examples left and N/A where nothing applies.
September 7, 2026
What a plan must carry: the fundamental elements
Fifteen elements across nineteen layers, exempt where the project has none, and freedom to add more.
September 7, 2026
Attribute blocks: one for every entity on the plan
Two parcels, two blocks. Inside the polygon, on the line, over the point. No external databases.
September 7, 2026
Symbology and annotations: colour goes by layer, not by entity
The symbol library is downloaded separately, annotations have their own layers, and the only compulsory text is the adjoining owners.
September 7, 2026
The plan step by step: from seed file to frame
Six steps in order, a layer change every time you start a new element, and nineteen layers with names of their own.
September 7, 2026
Trees, windows and water: what the Code demands of you as a neighbour
Two metres for a tall tree, one and a half for a direct view, and your roof water falls on your own lot.
September 7, 2026
Your development’s deed restrictions: when they bind and how they go
Five cumulative requirements to bind everyone, and six causes to modify or extinguish them.
September 7, 2026
Letting someone live in your house without giving them the house
The right of habitation is presumed lifelong, cannot be leased or sold, and the holder pays almost no expenses.
September 7, 2026
Building or planting on someone else’s soil: who keeps the work
What is built on another’s soil belongs to the soil’s owner, but in good faith it must be paid for, and sometimes the builder keeps the land.
September 7, 2026
You lost possession: which improvements are paid and which crop you keep
Necessary expenses are paid to every possessor; useful ones only to the good-faith possessor, who may also retain the thing until paid.
September 7, 2026
Three actions to defend your property and what each one requires
Reivindicatory to recover the thing, declaratory to have your ownership declared, negatory to deny an encumbrance someone alleges.
September 7, 2026
What a usufruct is and how it is created
If the title does not say how long it lasts, the usufruct is for life. In favour of a juridical person it cannot exceed thirty years.
September 7, 2026
What the holder of a usufruct may do
They receive all the fruits, may lease the asset, transfer their right and mortgage it, but what they sign ends when the usufruct ends.
September 7, 2026
Who pays what in a usufruct: repairs, taxes and debts
Ordinary repairs and taxes on the fruits fall on the usufructuary; extraordinary repairs and taxes on capital fall on the owner.
September 7, 2026
When a usufruct ends and what happens next
Eleven causes of extinction, and a court that may end it for misuse, keep it under conditions, or pass it to the next usufructuary.
September 7, 2026
The wall dividing two houses: whose it is and who repairs it
The law presumes it is shared, but seven exterior signs make it one neighbour’s alone. Both pay pro rata.
September 7, 2026
What a servitude is and how it is created
Only continuous and apparent ones can be won by time, and it takes fifteen years. The rest are created only by agreement.
September 7, 2026
Who maintains a servitude and who may move it
Expenses fall on whoever benefits, the servient owner included if they gain from it. Moving the servitude is paid by whoever wants it moved.
September 7, 2026
When a servitude is lost and how it is cancelled
Fifteen years of non-use extinguish it. And if all its benefit disappears it does not revive, even if it later becomes useful again.
September 7, 2026
The surface right: building on another’s land and owning what you build
It takes a public deed and Registry recording. If the title does not say how long it lasts, it is understood granted in perpetuity.
September 7, 2026
When the surface right ends: who keeps the building
On expiry, the building is the soil owner’s, but absent agreement they must pay its value at the moment of transfer, with all its improvements.
September 7, 2026
What the Civil Code says about the mortgage
Without recording in the Registry it is not validly constituted, unless the law recognizes it as tacit. The rest is governed by registry law.
September 7, 2026
The right of tanteo: buying before an outsider does
With no agreed period it lapses thirty days after the notice. And if you were not notified, or the terms changed, it becomes a retracto.
September 8, 2026
Sold to an outsider: the co-owners’ and neighbours’ retracto
Thirty days from the recording or from learning of the sale. The co-owners’ retracto excludes the neighbours’.
September 8, 2026
How long a lease lasts, and what if it expires, is sold, or someone dies
Absent a different term, a lease of immovables is understood as one year. Once expired, it continues until one party notifies its will to end it.
September 9, 2026
Subletting what you rent: when you may, and when they may refuse
If the contract does not expressly forbid it, you may sublet. The landlord may refuse only on two grounds the statute writes down.
September 9, 2026
The contract for works: who is the contractor and who the principal
The contractor binds itself, without being subordinate, to carry out a material or intellectual work for a price. It picks the means and may use assistants.
September 9, 2026
The price of works: who fixes it and who supplies the materials
Absent agreement, a lump sum is presumed and the contractor supplies the materials. With no price and no applicable usage, the court determines it.
September 9, 2026
Contracted works: ten years of warranty against ruin, and nine more duties
The contractor guarantees soundness against ruin for ten years from delivery. And those who put in labour and materials may claim from the owner.
September 9, 2026
The work collapsed, someone died, or it became impossible: what gets paid
Where the contract fails, the principal pays for usable materials and the proportional value of what was executed. With its own rules if the work is destroyed.
September 9, 2026
Getting out of a works contract: the 20%, the five days, and what you pay
If necessary changes raise the price by 20%, the principal may rescind — but only within five days. And they may always cancel by paying for work done.
September 9, 2026
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