What law governs a Puerto Rico residential lease?

The Codigo Civil de Puerto Rico de 2020, Ley 55-2020. Puerto Rico is a civil-law jurisdiction with no landlord-tenant act and no uniform residential landlord and tenant act of any kind. The lease is the nominate contract of arrendamiento, governed by arts. 1331 to 1350 of that Code, which are 31 L.P.R.A. secs. 10101 to 10173. The Code took effect on 28 November 2020 under its own art. 1820 and repealed the Codigo Civil de 1930 under art. 1819.

Does a Puerto Rico lease have to be in writing?

No, unless the term exceeds six years. Art. 1342 establishes libertad de forma: the contract of arrendamiento requires no special formality for its validity, except where the object is an immovable and the parties want to record it in the Registro de la Propiedad. Art. 1343, as amended by Ley 122-2026 on 23 June 2026, requires writing only for a term greater than six years. Art. 1245(b) separately requires a public or private instrument, for evidentiary purposes, at six years or more.

How much can a Puerto Rico landlord charge for a security deposit?

There is no limit, because there is no statute. The word deposito does not appear anywhere in the twenty articles of the arrendamiento chapter. Puerto Rico has no deposit cap, no escrow or trust duty, no interest requirement, no itemization requirement, no return deadline and no statutory penalty. Everything a tenant can enforce about a deposit has to be written into the lease.

How long does a Puerto Rico landlord have to return a security deposit?

No statutory period exists. Because Puerto Rico has no deposit statute, the only deadline is the one the lease creates. A tenant whose lease is silent has an ordinary action for the sum owed, decided under the general law of obligations and the good-faith rule at art. 15, with costs following the winner under Regla 44.1(a) and attorney fees available only for temeridad under Regla 44.1(d).

How much notice must a Puerto Rico landlord give before entering?

Seven days, and only for justified cause. Art. 1346(h) obliges the arrendatario to permit the arrendador to inspect the leased thing for justified cause and on seven days' prior notice. Puerto Rico's rule is drafted as a tenant obligation rather than a landlord right, the trigger is inspection, and it is entirely new law: the repealed 1930 Civil Code contained no entry provision at all.

Does Puerto Rico have rent control?

No. Ley 464 de 25 de abril de 1946, the Ley de Alquileres Razonables, was repealed on a staggered schedule by Ley 57 de 25 de junio de 1995, whose art. 4 provided that after three years its application ceased completely and it was repealed in its totality. That date was 25 June 1998. There is no rent ceiling, no rent board, and no rental jurisdiction in DACO.

How much notice does a Puerto Rico landlord need to raise the rent?

None by statute. No Puerto Rico law requires notice of a rent increase or caps one. Art. 1340 leaves the alquiler to the parties, or to a third party they designate, or failing that to the court. During a fixed term the agreed canon binds, and changing it is a modification which art. 1344 requires to observe the same formalities as the original grant.

What notice comes before an eviction in Puerto Rico?

There is no statutory pre-suit notice at all. The desahucio chapter, arts. 620 to 634 of the Ley de Procedimientos Legales Especiales at 32 L.P.R.A. secs. 2821 to 2838, contains no notice provision. The proceeding begins with the complaint, and the court then summons both parties to a comparecencia to be held within ten days of filing. The five-business-day and thirty-day notice periods that circulate on English-language pages have no source in Puerto Rico law.

Can a Puerto Rico landlord evict for one missed rent payment?

Not on the Civil Code ground. Art. 1348(c) lets the arrendador resolve the contract where the arrendatario has failed to pay the agreed alquiler during two consecutive periods. The repealed 1930 Code allowed it for simple falta de pago, which is where the single-month rule that still circulates comes from.

Does Puerto Rico recognise an implied warranty of habitability?

No. The civil-law equivalent is saneamiento. Under art. 1261 a person who transmits a thing for value answers for eviccion and for hidden defects even if unaware of them, and art. 1349(b) makes breach of those warranties a ground on which the tenant may resolve the lease. Art. 1267 defines the vicio redhibitorio, and art. 1270 gives a six-month prescription running from delivery or from the last exchange of communications.

Can a Puerto Rico lease waive the landlord's liability for defects?

In principle art. 1262 permits it, and in practice it is exposed. Art. 1262 lets the parties increase, diminish or suppress the saneamiento obligation, a diminution or suppression being invalid only where the transmitting party incurs in dolo. But art. 1249(d) makes a clause that excludes or limits the drafter's liability especially voidable in a contract celebrated by adhesion, and a landlord's form lease is the paradigm adhesion contract.

Is an automatic-renewal clause valid in a Puerto Rico lease?

It is especially voidable in a form lease. Art. 1249(f) lists, among the clauses especially anulables in a contract celebrated by adhesion, one that on the adherent's silence prorogues or renews a contract of determinate duration. It is also unnecessary: art. 1335 already continues the lease on the same agreed terms after the term expires, until one party notifies the other of its will to resolve it.

Can a Puerto Rico tenant sublet without permission?

Yes, unless the contract expressly prohibits it. Art. 1336 permits the arrendatario to sublease the thing in whole or in part where the lease does not expressly forbid it, without prejudice to his own responsibility to the arrendador. The arrendador may refuse only where the sublessee lacks the same economic qualifications as the tenant, or where the intended activity or use would cause him economic harm.

Does Puerto Rico cap late fees?

There is no percentage cap and no statutory grace period. A late charge is a clausula penal under art. 1257: the parties may agree it, the creditor may accumulate it with performance where performance is late, it is interpreted restrictively, and the court may temper it in cases of extreme economic disproportion while otherwise recognising its binding force. Default interest, absent agreement, is the legal rate the Oficina del Comisionado de Instituciones Financieras fixes for judgments, computed simple and not compound under art. 1169.

What disclosures does Puerto Rico require in a residential lease?

None of its own. Neither the arrendamiento chapter nor any act found in an exhaustive sweep of the 2021 to 2026 sessions imposes a lease disclosure duty. The federal lead-based paint rule at 42 U.S.C. 4852d and 40 C.F.R. 745.113 is the whole of the mandatory list, and its elements must appear in the language of the contract, which the rule instances as English or Spanish.

Who can be evicted by desahucio in Puerto Rico?

Inquilinos and other arrendatarios, administrators, caretakers, porters and guards placed by the owner, and anyone holding material possession or enjoying the property precariamente without paying any canon, under art. 621. Ley 95-2026, approved 26 May 2026, added an important defence: a defendant who claims a comunidad de bienes because he made contributions benefiting the shared immovable may present evidence and require the case to be litigated by the ordinary route instead of summarily.

What evidence can a Puerto Rico tenant offer in a nonpayment eviction?

Almost none. Art. 627 provides that where the complaint is founded on failure to pay the canon, no evidence is admitted from the defendant other than the receipt or another document showing that payment was made. Ley 95-2026 carved one exception for evidence of contributions through a comunidad de bienes, on a preponderance standard. This is why a Puerto Rico tenant should insist on a dated receipt for every payment.

Does a Puerto Rico tenant get attorney fees if they win?

Costs yes, fees only for temeridad. Regla 44.1(a) of the Reglas de Procedimiento Civil de 2009 grants costs to the party in whose favour the suit is resolved. Regla 44.1(d) imposes attorney fees only where a party or its lawyer has proceeded with temeridad o frivolidad, and where that is found the court must impose a sum corresponding to the conduct. Regla 44.3(b) adds interest against a party that proceeded with temeridad.

Can a Puerto Rico landlord change the locks or remove belongings?

No. Possession is recovered only through the desahucio action, and the lanzamiento is carried out by the alguacil on a judicial writ under arts. 632 and 633. Where the court has found the family economically insolvent, the lanzamiento may not even be executed unless an official of the Departments of the Family and of Housing is present. That exclusivity, not a self-help statute, is why lock-outs are unlawful in Puerto Rico.

What changed in Puerto Rico lease and eviction law in 2026?

Three acts. Ley 31-2026, approved 6 March 2026, requires notice to the Oficina del Procurador del Veterano in a desahucio against a veteran. Ley 95-2026, approved 26 May 2026, gave a defendant claiming a comunidad de bienes the right to convert the summary desahucio into an ordinary action. Ley 122-2026, approved 23 June 2026, corrected art. 1343 so that only leases longer than six years must be in writing.

How long is a Puerto Rico lease if the contract says nothing?

One year. Art. 1333 provides that the arrendamiento of immovables is considered concluded for a term of one year except where a different term has been agreed. A Puerto Rico handshake tenancy is therefore an annual lease, not a month-to-month tenancy, which is the opposite of the default a United States reader expects.

Does a Puerto Rico condominium restrict short-term letting?

It can, and the threshold is ninety days. Art. 2(g) of the Ley de Condominios de Puerto Rico, Ley 129-2020, defines an arrendamiento a corto plazo as any lease for fewer than ninety consecutive days. Art. 40, at 31 L.P.R.A. sec. 1922l, provides that such leases may not be prohibited unless the escritura matriz or the reglamento contains an express prohibition or sets a minimum term. The reglamento may regulate them and may impose a special monthly fee on the owner, capped at the maintenance fee.

Does a Puerto Rico domestic violence survivor get to break the lease?

Not by statute. Ley 54-1989 gives a protection order rather than a lease remedy. Its art. 2.1 powers include provisional measures respecting the possession and use of the parties' residence, and an order that payment of the canones de arrendamiento or the mortgage on the principal residence continue while the order is in force. A landlord's realistic exposure is therefore a court order changing who may lawfully occupy the dwelling, not a statutory early-termination notice.

What happens when a Puerto Rico lease term expires?

It continues on the same terms until a party gives notice. Art. 1335 provides that once the agreed term arrives the lease continues on the same contracted terms until one of the parties notifies the other of its will to resolve the contract, and that obligations granted by a third party to secure the principal contract cease as to that continuation. There is no fifteen-day holdover trigger and no fixed renewal period; both were features of art. 1456 of the repealed 1930 Code. Guarantors are released as to the continuation.

When is a Puerto Rico tenant legally in default on rent?

On the due date, without any demand, if the lease fixes one. Art. 1159 puts a debtor in mora from the moment the creditor demands performance, but art. 1160(b) removes the need for that demand where the obligation has a certain date for performance. Art. 1161 supplies the counterweight: in obligations with reciprocal performances neither party incurs in mora while the other fails to perform or offer to perform, so a landlord in breach of art. 1345 is in a weaker position to say the tenant is late.

Who pays attorney fees in a Puerto Rico lease dispute?

Costs follow the winner; fees follow bad conduct. Regla 44.1(a) grants costs to the party in whose favour the suit is resolved. Regla 44.1(d) imposes attorney fees only where a party or its lawyer has proceeded with temeridad o frivolidad, and where that is found the court must impose a sum corresponding to the conduct. Regla 44.3(b) adds interest against a party that proceeded with temeridad. The only prevailing-party fee entitlement reaching a Puerto Rico lease is the federal one for a lead-disclosure violation.

What discrimination law applies to a Puerto Rico rental?

Both local and federal. Ley 131-1943 at 1 L.P.R.A. sec. 13(c) bars refusing to lease or sublease a vivienda on grounds of political or religious matters, race, colour, sex, or protective hairstyles and hair textures associated with racial and national-origin identities, and subsection (d) bars discriminatory advertising. A violation is a misdemeanour and a successful civil claim carries mandatory punitive damages under sec. 14. National origin, disability and familial status are reached by the federal Fair Housing Act, which applies in Puerto Rico as in a state.

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Free Puerto Rico Residential Lease Agreement

Puerto Rico residential lease agreement walk-through

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A configurable Puerto Rico contrato de arrendamiento that generates a signable multi-page PDF. Built to the Codigo Civil de Puerto Rico de 2020, arts. 1331 to 1350, as corrected by Ley 122-2026.

Puerto Rico Codigo Civil 2020 2026 Acts Applied Free PDF 2026 Edition

Updated Q3 2026 By Tenant Screening Background Check Editorial Team Scope Puerto Rico ~22 min read

A Puerto Rico residential lease agreement is not governed by a landlord-tenant act, because Puerto Rico does not have one and never has. Puerto Rico is a civil-law jurisdiction, and a lease is the nominate contract of arrendamiento in the Codigo Civil de Puerto Rico de 2020 — Ley 55-2020, arts. 1331 through 1350, which are 31 L.P.R.A. secs. 10101 to 10173. That Code took effect on 28 November 2020 under its own art. 1820, and under art. 1819 it repealed the Codigo Civil de 1930 outright. Almost everything written in English about “Puerto Rico landlord-tenant law” still describes the 1930 Code, and the lease chapter did not merely move: it shrank from more than forty articles to twenty, and several rules that still circulate as current were deleted rather than renumbered. Nothing about that structure is cosmetic. There is no implied warranty of habitability — there is saneamiento. There is no security deposit statute at all. There is no notice to quit. Entry is not a landlord right with a notice period; it is a tenant obligation conditioned on justified cause and seven days’ notice. And on 23 June 2026, six weeks before this page was verified, Ley 122-2026 corrected a drafting inversion that had, on the face of the Code, required a written lease for terms of six years or less.

Puerto Rico Lease Rules at a Glance

Security Deposit

No Statute

Deposit Return

No Deadline

Inspection Notice

Seven Days

Default Term

One Year

Those four cells are the whole difference between Puerto Rico and a United States state. Nothing regulates the deposit, so the lease has to. Nothing supplies a month-to-month default, so silence produces an annual lease under art. 1333. Entry runs on seven days and justified cause under art. 1346(h), not on twenty-four hours. And nonpayment does not become a ground of resolution until two consecutive periods go unpaid under art. 1348(c).

Three Puerto Rico Acts Changed This Law in 2026

Puerto Rico’s legislature passed one hundred sixty-seven laws in 2026, and three of them touch this page. Ley 31-2026, approved 6 March 2026 and effective on approval, amended arts. 623 and 632 of the eviction chapter to require notice to the Oficina del Procurador del Veterano where a desahucio runs against a veteran. Ley 95-2026, approved 26 May 2026, amended arts. 621 and 627 so that a defendant claiming a comunidad de bienes from contributions to the shared property may present evidence and force the summary eviction into the ordinary route. Ley 122-2026, approved 23 June 2026, corrected art. 1343 of the Civil Code. We read all three in the enacted text, not in a summary — and we found that the government’s own consolidated compilation of the eviction chapter, revised on 2 June 2026, does not carry Ley 31-2026 at all.

How to Fill Out This Puerto Rico Lease Agreement

The Eight-Step Puerto Rico Sequence

1. Name the arrendador and the arrendatario

Puerto Rico’s vocabulary is arrendador and arrendatario, and the rent is the canon or alquiler. Art. 1338 lets the owner, a usufructuary, or anyone whose administration powers include leasing grant the contract — but a single co-owner may not lease the common thing without the others’ consent, though the contract can be ratified afterwards.

2. Describe the premises, the municipio, and whether it is a condominium

Puerto Rico is divided into seventy-eight municipios, not counties. If the dwelling is an apartment submitted to the Regimen de Propiedad Horizontal, art. 40 of the Ley de Condominios lets the escritura matriz or the reglamento restrict any lease shorter than ninety consecutive days.

3. Set the term — and leave out the automatic-renewal clause

Art. 1333 supplies a one-year term where the parties agree none. Art. 1335 then continues the lease on the same terms until a party notifies its will to resolve. An automatic-renewal-on-silence clause is therefore unnecessary, and art. 1249(f) makes exactly that clause especially voidable in a contract of adhesion.

4. Set the canon and say whether it is payable in advance

Art. 1341 provides that in default of stipulation the alquiler is understood to have been agreed for periods in arrears. That is the reverse of the ordinary American assumption, and a lease that wants rent up front has to say so expressly.

5. Create the deposit terms, because no statute does

Puerto Rico has no security deposit statute of any kind. Choose the return deadline and the itemization duty this lease will impose, because they exist only if the contract creates them.

6. Decide the saneamiento question

There is no habitability warranty in Puerto Rico. Saneamiento at arts. 1261 to 1270 stands in its place. Art. 1262 lets the parties increase, diminish or suppress it absent dolo — and this builder will only ever increase it, because art. 1249(d) makes a liability-limiting clause especially voidable in a form lease.

7. Set the inspection notice at seven days or longer

Art. 1346(h) obliges the arrendatario to permit inspection for justified cause and on seven days’ prior notice. A lease may lengthen that period. Shortening it below the Code’s own figure would put the clause on the wrong side of arts. 1247 and 1249.

8. Generate, sign and diarise the short deadlines

Download the multi-page PDF and sign. No witnesses and no notary are required. Then diarise two very short periods that catch people out: the six-month prescription for vicios redhibitorios under art. 1270, and the five-day appeal term in a desahucio under art. 629.

Build Your Puerto Rico Residential Lease Agreement

Complete the fields below to generate a Puerto Rico residential lease agreement as a signable multi-page PDF. Every field you fill is written into the document, and the generated lease cites the controlling Civil Code article at each point — including the three questions no imported template asks: whether saneamiento is reinforced, what deposit deadline the contract creates where the law creates none, and whether the dwelling sits inside a Regimen de Propiedad Horizontal. Before handing over keys, run proper tenant screening. Pair the signed lease with a Puerto Rico move-in / move-out checklist, which is your evidence of the state in which the premises were delivered under art. 1345(a) and must be restored under art. 1346(i).

Puerto Rico Residential Lease (Contrato de Arrendamiento) Builder

1. Parties (Las Partes)

Puerto Rico’s vocabulary is arrendador (landlord) and arrendatario (tenant), and the rent is