P.R. Laws tit. 13, § 10630

2019-02-20 00:00:00+00
§ 10630. Evaluation of application; qualification certificate; bond; insurance or performance bond

(a) Criteria. — The Executive Director shall evaluate every application for credits pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and the regulations adopted thereby, within one hundred twenty (120) days from receipt of the application. In the evaluation of every application for credit the Executive Director may consider the following:

(1) The need for credit in order to complete the financing of the development of the project, determined on the competence and discretion of the Authority;

(2) the nature and amount of the eligible investment to be used in the new construction or substantial rehabilitation of housing units for rent to low or moderate-income families;

(3) the type and characteristics of the housing units to be developed or rehabilitated by the owner;

(4) the location and environmental impact of the housing project proposed by the petitioner;

(5) the need for housing for low and moderate income families in the proposed area;

(6) the characteristics of the petitioner and experience in the development and rehabilitation of affordable housing units, and

(7) those criteria that the Executive Director deems are relevant and necessary according to the purposes of this chapter and the best interests of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

(b) Endorsements from other agencies. — The approval of the credit application shall have the prior endorsement of the Secretary of the Treasury and the endorsements that are determined by the Executive Director through regulations.

(c) Qualification certificate. — The Executive Director shall issue a written determination in a term of not more than one hundred and twenty (120) days from the date of the proper filing of an application for credit, by which he/she notifies the owner that the housing project and the proposed eligible investment qualify for the credit provided by the provisions of this chapter. The Executive Director may specify on the qualification certificate, the terms and conditions that must be met to enjoy the credit. The qualification certificate shall indicate the amount of credits that shall be reserved for the owner and that the credit shall not be available nor shall be claimable until the credit certification is issued pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.

(d) Bond, surety or performance bond. — Every owner shall submit within thirty (30) days of the issue of the qualification certificate, a bond, surety or any other form of warranty that is acceptable to the Executive Director, that is sufficient to respond for any reimbursement or revocation of credit ordered under this chapter or its regulations, including any applicable interest, penalties or charges. The bond, surety or performance bond, shall be issued to the order of the Department of the Treasury, in the form, amount, and under the terms and conditions that the Executive Director, in coordination with the Secretary of the Treasury, deems convenient to comply with the purposes of this chapter or its regulations. Said bond, surety or performance bond shall remain in effect for the term of ten (10) years while the housing project is conditioned to the rental requirement. The bond, surety or performance bond shall be reduced in the measure that the ten (10) years comprised in the rental requirement of the housing project in question elapse, being the same reduced in an equal proportion to the inverse of the percentages provided in the credit reimbursement table in § 10633 of this title.

In the event that they are combined with federal tax credits, the restriction period of the rental rates, the limit of income and the reimbursement of credits shall be based on the applicable regulations pursuant to the allocated tax credit program.

(e) Credit certification. — Once the new construction work or substantial rehabilitation of rental housing units subject to a credit application under this chapter, are completed, and after complying with the requirements and conditions imposed in this chapter, the regulations adopted hereunder and the qualification certificate, the Executive Director will issue the corresponding credit certification.

History —Oct. 4, 2001, No. 140, § 11; Aug. 13, 2008, No. 261, § 8.