P.R. Laws tit. 31, § 1858f
Any individual or head of family who acquires a rural or urban parcel to establish and create his/her homestead thereon shall state so in the deed after having been duly advised on this duty by the authorizing notary, who shall attest to such fact; and upon recording the same, the Property Registrar shall enter such statements in the body of the registration indicating that the owner has filed a Declaration of Homestead for such property. This entry shall serve as public notice.
If the parcel has already been registered in the name of such individual or head of family, it shall suffice for the owner or owners of such parcel to execute a declaration before a notary public stating that the parcel is covered by homestead protection for the Property Registrar to make a marginal notation on the appropriate record.
Both documents, that is, the deed and the declaration, as the case may be, shall state that such property shall be used for residential purposes and that the owner has not declared any other property in or outside Puerto Rico as such. The owner shall also be advised, in both documents, on the potential sanctions to which any person shall be subject if he/she attempts to or unlawfully files a declaration of Homestead for more than one property or in favor of another person.
If a person already owns another property that has been declared as his/her homestead, the existence of such other property and the fact that such property shall cease to be his/her homestead as of said time shall be acknowledged in the document; additionally, such person shall have the obligation to cancel the declaration of homestead of the former property in the Property Registry, so that the Registrar may record such cancellation in the marginal notation of the appropriate record. Such cancellation may be made through the same deed of the new property which shall be covered by homestead protection or through a declaration.
Insofar as the property has been declared a homestead, the Property Registrar shall be required to make a notation stating that the property was so declared by its owner.
Such declarations or notations shall only constitute prima facie evidence of the homestead right of such property; no person may claim more than one property as a protected homestead.
History —Sept. 13, 2011, No. 195, § 9.