In short
Not all land in Puerto Rico has a qualification map in force. When your property falls in one of those zones, Chapter 6.2 of the Joint Regulation is the rule deciding what may be done. It says two practical things. First: until the Soil Qualification Maps are in force for all of Puerto Rico, in areas that are not qualified the Puerto Rico Land Use Plan and the qualification districts it recommends are used as the reference. Second, and this is the one most people need: one- and two-family residences are permitted ministerially in urban soil or common rustic soil classifications. For lotificaciones and urbanizaciones the regulation splits jurisdiction: the Junta Adjudicativa evaluates those falling outside urban soil, following Table 6.92, which translates each PUTPR classification into a qualification parameter, and the Secretario Auxiliar of OGPe evaluates those falling in Urban Soil. Holding a public hearing is at the discretion of the Secretario Auxiliar and the Junta Adjudicativa. And a warning worth reading before citing the neighbour’s case: these cases shall not establish a general policy or define public policy.
What is it?
It is Chapter 6.2 of Joint Regulation No. 9473. It establishes the criteria to guide and control the use and development of land in Puerto Rico’s non-qualified areas, with the aim of contributing to safety, order, coexistence, economic soundness and the general welfare of present and future inhabitants. A non-qualified area is, simply, land for which no qualification map assigning it a district is yet in force. The regulation does not leave that land without rules: it directs that the Puerto Rico Land Use Plan and the qualification districts the PUTPR itself recommends be used as the reference while the qualification process is completed.
Who can do it?
The chapter applies by where the land is, not by who is asking. It applies to land in Puerto Rico that is not qualified — that is, land for which the Soil Qualification Maps are not in force. Within those areas, the express ministerial use is that of one- and two-family residences in urban soil or common rustic soil classifications. For lotificaciones and urbanizaciones, Act 161-2009 provides the jurisdiction to evaluate those applications in non-qualified areas: the Junta Adjudicativa evaluates them following the parameters of the PUTPR’s classifications, and those in Urban Soil are evaluated by the Secretario Auxiliar of OGPe. Outside those cases, the chapter does not describe which other uses are available or on what parameters; for that you must go to the equivalent district under Table 6.92 and to the chapters defining those districts, which we did not read.
Requirements
- That the land be in a non-qualified area — that is, that the Soil Qualification Maps not be in force for that soil.Verified against the official source
- For the ministerial residential use: that it be a one- or two-family residence and that the classification be urban soil or common rustic soil.Verified against the official source
- For lotificación or urbanización outside Urban Soil: that the application be evaluated following the parameters of the Puerto Rico Land Use Plan’s classifications, under the equivalence in Table 6.92.Verified against the official source
- For lotificación or urbanización in Urban Soil in a non-qualified area: that the application be evaluated by the Secretario Auxiliar of OGPe.Verified against the official source
Documents you need
Cost
Step by step
Step 1: Find out whether your land is qualified
The starting question is not which district you have, but whether you have one. The regulation starts from a fact: the Soil Qualification Maps are not in force for all of Puerto Rico. Where they are not, the land is a non-qualified area and this chapter applies. Do not infer the district from what you see around you or from what was approved for a neighbour; what decides is whether a map is in force for that soil. That information sits with the Planning Board, the agency that owns the qualification process.
Step 2: The reference rule: the PUTPR governs
Until the Soil Qualification Maps are in force for all of Puerto Rico, in areas that are not qualified the PUTPR and the qualification districts it recommends are used as the reference. That is: even if your lot has no district assigned on a map, it does have a classification in the Land Use Plan, and that classification is what is used as the reference. The regulation itself prints the sentence as "se utilizará como referencia para la otorgación de suelos el PUTPR", which is the source’s wording; what matters is the substance, and the substance is that the PUTPR is the reference point while there is no map.
Step 3: The one- or two-family house: ministerial
This is the line most people need from the chapter: one- and two-family residences are permitted ministerially in urban soil or common rustic soil classifications. Ministerial, in the Joint Regulation’s vocabulary, means the evaluation is one of compliance with objective criteria, not a discretionary decision. The regulation does not say the house is exempt from a permit or that nothing need be filed: it says the use is permitted ministerially. And it limits that to two classifications — urban soil and common rustic soil — and to one or two families. Three apartments no longer fit in that sentence.
Step 4: Who evaluates a lotificación or urbanización
Among the matters Act 161-2009 provides for is the jurisdiction to evaluate lotificación and urbanización applications in non-qualified areas. The split is this. The Junta Adjudicativa evaluates lotificación and urbanización applications in non-qualified areas following the parameters of the Puerto Rico Land Use Plan’s classifications. And lotificación and urbanización applications in Urban Soil in non-qualified areas are evaluated by the Secretario Auxiliar of OGPe. Knowing which of the two is yours is not a bureaucratic detail: it changes who hears the case.
Step 5: Table 6.92: from PUTPR classification to qualification parameter
To evaluate lotificación and urbanización applications in non-qualified areas, the Junta Adjudicativa takes into account the classification under the PUTPR and the qualification parameter, until the qualification process is completed. The full equivalence, as printed in Table 6.92, is this. Common Rustic Soil, SRC: R-G and A-G. Specially Protected Rustic Soil, SREP: A-P. SREP-A, Agricultural; SREP-AE, Agricultural-Ecological; SREP-AH, Agricultural-Hydrological; and SREP-AP, Agricultural-Landscape: A-P, Productive Agricultural. SREP-E, Ecological; SREP-EA, Ecological-Agricultural; SREP-EH, Ecological-Hydrological; and SREP-EP, Ecological-Landscape: A-B, Forest Area. SREP-H, Hydrological, and SREP-P, Landscape: C-R, Resource Conservation. The table has no row for Urban Soil, because those cases go through the Secretario Auxiliar of OGPe. What the table gives you is the equivalent district; the concrete parameters of each of those districts are in other chapters we did not read and do not describe here.
Step 6: The public hearing is discretionary
Where any use or development is sought on land in non-qualified areas, holding a public hearing is at the discretion of the Secretario Auxiliar of OGPe and the Junta Adjudicativa. It is neither an automatic right of the applicant or of neighbours nor prohibited: it is left to the discretion of whoever evaluates. Plan without ruling it out and without counting on it.
Step 7: What these cases do not create
The regulation closes with an express limit: these cases shall not establish a general policy or define public policy, that responsibility remaining in the Planning Board’s exclusive jurisdiction. In practice that means what was approved for someone else in a non-qualified area is not a precedent you can invoke, and what is approved for you will not be one for anybody else. Public policy on land use is set by the Board, not by the sum of case-by-case decisions.
Where to do it
The Planning Board is the agency that owns the soil qualification process and the Puerto Rico Land Use Plan, and its Junta Adjudicativa evaluates lotificación and urbanización applications in non-qualified areas outside Urban Soil. Lotificación and urbanización applications in Urban Soil in non-qualified areas are evaluated by the Secretario Auxiliar of OGPe. Holding a public hearing is at the discretion of the Secretario Auxiliar of OGPe and of the Junta Adjudicativa.
How long it takes
What to do if something goes wrong
The commonest mistake with non-qualified land is assuming there are "no rules" or that "anything goes". Chapter 6.2 says the opposite: while no qualification map is in force, the PUTPR and the qualification districts the PUTPR itself recommends are used as the reference. The second mistake is the reverse: assuming nothing is possible. There is an express door, and it is the residence: one- and two-family residences are permitted ministerially in urban soil or common rustic soil classifications. If yours is a lotificación or an urbanización, the first thing is to know whether the land falls in Urban Soil, because that decides who evaluates: the Secretario Auxiliar of OGPe if it is Urban Soil, the Junta Adjudicativa if not. And if it is not Urban Soil, find your classification in Table 6.92 to know which qualification parameter will apply to you. Four caveats. First: we publish no cost or processing time, because the chapter fixes no fee and estimates no duration. Second: we did not read the Puerto Rico Land Use Plan or its maps, or Act 161-2009, or the chapters defining the R-G, A-G, A-P, A-B and C-R districts; we name them because the chapter sends readers to them, and for that reason we do not tell you here what each of those districts permits. Third: Table 6.92 has no row for Urban Soil, and the chapter does not develop which parameters apply to it either; it only says who evaluates it. Fourth, on source defects: the table prints "Agricola Productive" in the SREP-A row and "CR" without a hyphen in the SREP-P row; the heading reads "Clasificación PUT" while the column and the text read "PUTPR"; and the paragraph on the public-hearing discretion is printed without its letter, running on from the previous paragraph. We state the substance and flag the misprints. And a note on the link: the file the Board publishes is named "Reglamento Conjunto de Emergencia", but the document inside is Joint Regulation No. 9473 of 16 June 2023.
Common mistakes
- Believing a non-qualified area has no rules: the reference is the PUTPR and the districts it recommends.
- Believing the opposite, that nothing is possible: a one- or two-family residence is permitted ministerially.
- Confusing ministerial use with a permit exemption: the regulation speaks of the use, not of a waiver from filing.
- Projecting three or more units under the ministerial rule, which is limited to one or two families.
- Applying the ministerial rule outside urban soil or common rustic soil, the two classifications the sentence names.
- Filing a lotificación in Urban Soil with the Junta Adjudicativa, when those go to the Secretario Auxiliar of OGPe.
- Counting on a public hearing as a right: holding one is at the discretion of the Secretario Auxiliar and the Junta Adjudicativa.
- Invoking a neighbour’s approved case as precedent: these cases establish no general policy and define no public policy.
Frequently asked questions
What is a non-qualified area?
It is land for which the Soil Qualification Maps are not in force — that is, land with no qualification district yet assigned on a map. Chapter 6.2 of the Joint Regulation establishes the criteria to guide and control the use and development of land in those areas, with the aim of contributing to safety, order, coexistence, economic soundness and the general welfare of present and future inhabitants.
Can I build a house in a non-qualified area?
The regulation says one- and two-family residences are permitted ministerially in urban soil or common rustic soil classifications. That is what the text says, and it is a use rule, not a permit exemption: it does not mean nothing need be filed. If your project is three or more units, or the land does not fall in those two classifications, this sentence does not cover you.
Which rule applies if there is no qualification map?
Until the Soil Qualification Maps are in force for all of Puerto Rico, in areas that are not qualified the Puerto Rico Land Use Plan and the qualification districts it recommends are used as the reference. For lotificaciones and urbanizaciones, the Junta Adjudicativa takes into account the classification under the PUTPR and the equivalent qualification parameter in Table 6.92, until the qualification process is completed.
Which district does my PUTPR classification equate to?
Under Table 6.92: Common Rustic Soil, SRC, equates to R-G and A-G. Specially Protected Rustic Soil, SREP, to A-P. The four agricultural classifications — SREP-A, SREP-AE, SREP-AH and SREP-AP — to A-P, Productive Agricultural. The four ecological ones — SREP-E, SREP-EA, SREP-EH and SREP-EP — to A-B, Forest Area. And SREP-H, Hydrological, and SREP-P, Landscape, to C-R, Resource Conservation. The table includes no row for Urban Soil.
Who evaluates my lotificación in a non-qualified area?
It depends on the classification. Lotificación and urbanización applications in Urban Soil in non-qualified areas are evaluated by the Secretario Auxiliar of OGPe. The rest are evaluated by the Junta Adjudicativa, following the parameters of the Puerto Rico Land Use Plan’s classifications.
Will there be a public hearing in my case?
Where any use or development is sought on land in non-qualified areas, holding a public hearing is at the discretion of the Secretario Auxiliar of OGPe and the Junta Adjudicativa. The regulation neither makes it mandatory nor prohibits it.
Is what was approved for my neighbour a precedent?
No. The regulation says so expressly: these cases shall not establish a general policy or define public policy, that responsibility remaining in the Planning Board’s exclusive jurisdiction.
Official sources
These are the government pages this guide is based on.
- Junta de Planificación de Puerto Rico (JP)
Junta de Planificación
docs.pr.gov
- Planning Board
jp
jp.pr.gov
- Permit Management Office
ogpe
ogpe.pr.gov
Last verified
September 4, 2026
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