Selling or segregating: no appraisal, survey or title study required

The informative return on segregation, grouping or transfer of real property is the form filled in and deposited at the notary’s office when a deed of segregation, grouping or transfer of title is executed, and which the notary then remits to the Treasury Department. This guide is about what information it asks for today, after Act 168-2026 removed three costly requirements.

Anyone executing a deed of segregation, grouping or transfer of title to real property in Puerto Rico. The law places the duty to fill in and deposit the return on the transferor or on whoever segregates or groups.

• Filling in and depositing the informative return at the authorizing notary’s office. The law says it is the duty of the transferor or of whoever segregates or groups, not the notary’s or the acquirer’s.Verified against the official source
• Including in the return: the deed’s number and date and the legal transaction performed; the appearing parties’ names with the capacity of their appearance and their social security number; the property or cadastral number; the property’s registry data — folio, volume, property number and town; the price or value of the transaction; the type of deed, where applicable; and the type of property, its location and address.Verified against the official source
• Taking the cadastral number from the latest available notice or tax receipt issued by the Municipal Revenue Collection Center.Verified against the official source

• What the law NO LONGER requires, and this is the change: an appraisal by a Professional Appraiser, a survey plan and a title study. Those three requirements had been added by Act 52-2022 and this Act removed them from the return.
• What is still attached where applicable: a copy of the New Construction Property certification to be issued by the seller, under Acts 132-2010, 216-2011 and 226-2011. The notary includes it with the returns and attaches it to the corresponding deed in their protocol.

1. 1

   Step 1: What was taken off your plate

   Act 52-2022 had amended Article 11 to require the informative return to include three things: an appraisal by a Professional Appraiser licensed in Puerto Rico, a survey plan and a title study. Act 168-2026 eliminated subsections 8 and 9 and restored the language in force before Act 52-2022. If someone tells you the return requires an appraisal, survey or title study, they are citing a state of the law that no longer governs.

2. 2

   Step 2: Price or value of the transaction, not appraisal price

   This is the change in subsection 5, and it hits the wallet directly. The statement of motives explains it: a transaction is not necessarily subject to financing, and the parties may freely and voluntarily agree a property’s value, making an appraisal unnecessary; forcing them to do it “would impose an onerous burden on people by making them incur an additional expense”. The law adds that using the term transaction instead of appraisal strengthens legal certainty, transparency and the efficiency of notarial and real-estate business.

3. 3

   Step 3: Why it changed: a court voided the 2022 article

   The law tells its own story and it is worth knowing. The Court of First Instance of San Juan, in Asociación de Abogados de Puerto Rico v. el Gobierno de Puerto Rico, Civil No. SJ2022CV05905, interpreted Act No. 52-2022 and declared null its Article 86, which was what tried to modify the Notarial Act. The statement of motives adds the constitutional ground: Section 17 of Article III of the Constitution provides that no bill may address more than one subject and that it must be clearly reflected in its title, and the Notarial Act amendments bore no relation to the tax reform that was Act 52-2022’s object. We did not read the judgment; we cite the case as the law cites it.

4. 4

   Step 4: Whose job it is to fill in the return

   People usually assume it is the notary’s or the buyer’s, and the law says otherwise: in executing deeds of segregation, grouping or transfer of title it shall be the duty of the transferor or of whoever segregates or groups to fill in and deposit at the authorizing notary’s office the informative return. That is, of the one who sells or the one who segregates.

5. 5

   Step 5: The cadastral number: seven days or a negative certification

   This is a concrete deadline worth having at hand if the process stalls there. The cadastral number is taken from the latest available notice or tax receipt issued by CRIM. And the law provides that CRIM shall furnish the cadastral or coding number within the next seven (7) days after it is requested; if that is not possible, it must issue a negative certification stating the reasons why it cannot furnish the requested number, which must be remitted to the Treasury Secretary and to CRIM together with the informative return.

6. 6

   Step 6: If you buy a home, the notary must tell you about the exemption

   This is a notary duty that benefits the buyer and that many never claim. Where the transfer is of residential real property, the notary is obliged to advise and warn the acquirer that, if they intend to use the property as their principal residence, they must apply for the property-tax exemption benefits under Act 107-2020, the Municipal Code of Puerto Rico. And the notary shall record that warning in the deed of transfer of title.

7. 7

   Step 7: When the return reaches Treasury

   Notaries are obliged to remit monthly to the Treasury Department the returns for the deeds executed before them during the previous month, on or before the tenth (10th) day of the month following execution. The return is filed in the form and manner the Treasury Secretary establishes by regulation, circular letter, informative bulletin or general administrative determination, including by electronic means. The Secretary shall share with CRIM the files of the returns filed electronically.

The return is filled in and deposited at the authorizing notary’s office, and the notary remits it to the Treasury Department. The cadastral number comes from the Municipal Revenue Collection Center. The law publishes no form, address, phone or portal: the filing method is set by the Treasury Secretary through regulation, circular letter, informative bulletin or administrative determination.

• Paying for an appraisal believing the return requires it: Act 168-2026 eliminated that requirement along with the survey plan and the title study.
• Believing filling in the return is the notary’s or the buyer’s job: the law places the duty on the transferor or on whoever segregates or groups.
• Confusing “price or value of the transaction” with “appraisal price”: subsection 5 today says the former, precisely so as not to force an appraisal.
• Accepting CRIM delaying the cadastral number without more: the law gives it seven (7) days from the request or requires a negative certification stating the reasons.
• Buying a home and not asking about the tax exemption: the notary is obliged to warn you and to record it in the deed.
• Assuming the law frees you from an appraisal for the bank: it speaks only of the informative return, not of what financing may require.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Hacienda de Puerto Rico

  Hacienda

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov