P.R. Laws tit. 7, § 1362g
Every cooperative may buy, hold and receive any real assets in conveyance, exclusively for the following purposes:
(a) Those that are necessary and convenient to execute its business and operations, including the establishing of branches, service offices and others, and may lease any space, equipped or not, to others, that is within the same structure. For the purposes of this section, investment in movable property includes the cost of acquisition, construction, rehabilitation and improvement of real property of the cooperative and all capitalized expenses related thereto.
Cooperatives shall need the authorization in advance of the Corporation to be able to invest in real property when the investment exceeds twenty-five percent (25%) of the total capital of the cooperative, after subtracting any accrued loss. Before granting this authorization, the Corporation shall analyze the impact that the investment may have on the liquidity and operational results of the cooperative, using objective and uniform parameters for it that shall be established through regulations.
(b) Those that are transferred to them in payment of debts for personal or mortgage loans granted in the course of their operations.
(c) Those that are acquired in foreclosure sales by decrees or mortgages in favor of the cooperative or given as security to guarantee the amounts owed, and
(d) in compliance of its social function, and subject to the twenty-five percent (25%) limitation provided in subsection (a) of this section, those movable goods that have a historic, cultural, or ecologic value, provided they meet the following requirements:
(1) The cultural, historical or ecologic value that is certified by the pertinent agency of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or the federal government of the United States, such as the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources or the Department of the Interior;
(2) the cooperative is a cooperative of adequate condition and not subject to memoranda of understanding, operating agreements, or duly issued administrative orders;
(3) the undividable capital reserve of the cooperative has achieved eight percent (8%) of the total risk assets;
(4) the costs of acquisition, operation, restoration and maintenance of the property shall not generate a base increment of fifty points (0.50) or more in the non-rounded CAEL (financial analysis indicator) of the cooperative;
(5) the proposed transaction does not exceed the fair market value based on an appraisal issued by an appraiser who holds a license issued by the Puerto Rico Board of Examiners of Professional Real Estate Appraisers pursuant to § 2309 of Title 20, and that meets the requirements of the Appraiser Qualifications Board of the Appraisal Foundation, or holds a license or certification that meets the requirements of Title IX of the Financial Institutions Reform Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA), and
(6) the proposed transaction has the approval of the general assembly of members or delegates, as the case may be, and of the Corporation.
The cooperatives shall dispose of the real property that is acquired pursuant to subsections (b) and (c) of this section, within a term of not more than five (5) years counting from their date of acquisition or transfer. Said term may be extended when, in the judgment of the Corporation, the best interests of the members, the cooperative and the Corporation itself, so justify it. The cooperative may also withhold said real property acquired under subsections (b) and (c) of this section, if they meet the requirements provided in subsections (a) and (d) of this section.
The Corporation shall order its appraisal and shall proceed to the sale at public auction of said property, when the cooperative does not dispose of it within the term established above, or before the expiration of any deferral, or of the permit to devote it to another authorized activity granted to it. The minimum price of the first auction shall be that of the appraisal ordered by the Corporation. Immediately after the sale, the Corporation shall turn over the net proceeds of the sale to the cooperative, after deducting the expenses incurred.
History —Oct. 28, 2002, No. 255, § 2.08.