Condominium complaint with DACO: horizontal property

It is the complaint the Department of Consumer Affairs receives in horizontal property matters — condominiums. DACO publishes its own form for it, with a condominium-specific section that does not exist on the other forms. Like every DACO complaint, it can be filed through its online services, on paper delivered in person at a regional office, or by phone on the main line.

It applies to anyone with a horizontal property dispute, typically an owner against the Board of Directors or the manager. The form asks whether you are current on maintenance fee payments and lets you tick Yes, No or N/A. What effect that answer has on your complaint is not published by DACO, so this guide does not assert it either way: if you are behind, ask when you file rather than assuming you cannot.

• Using the horizontal property form, not the general complaints one or the construction one.Verified against the official source
• Answering whether you are current on maintenance fee payments: Yes, No or N/A.Verified against the official source
• Ticking one of the causes the form lists: challenge to an assembly, façade alteration, proxy, illegal special assessment, failure to convene, challenge to Board of Directors actions, improper cut-off of services, or other.Verified against the official source

• Your details as complainant: name, physical and postal address, home and mobile phones, fax, email and date of birth.
• The respondent’s details, with room for a second and a third.
• The name of the Board of Directors president and of the secretary.
• A brief description of the facts and of the remedies you are requesting.

1. 1

   Step 1: Look at the seven causes before writing anything

   The form makes you tick one: challenge to an assembly, façade alteration, proxy, illegal special assessment, failure to convene, challenge to Board of Directors actions, improper cut-off of services, or other. Reading them first changes how you tell your case: if yours is that an assessment was approved at a meeting nobody summoned you to, those are two named causes, not a vague grievance.

2. 2

   Step 2: Answer the fee question honestly

   The first question in the condominium section is whether you are current on maintenance fee payments, with Yes, No and N/A options. DACO does not publish what effect that answer has, so do not disqualify yourself: answer it as it is and ask when you file what it means for your case.

3. 3

   Step 3: Get the Board’s names

   The form asks for the name of the Board of Directors president and of the secretary. If you do not have them to hand, find them before sitting down to fill it in: they appear in the condominium’s minutes and notices.

4. 4

   Step 4: Write facts and remedy, not only the anger

   The box asks for a brief description of the facts and of the remedies requested by the complainant. Dates, amounts, who did what, and what you want DACO to order. Attach whatever supports each claim: notices, minutes, account statements, photographs of the façade.

5. 5

   Step 5: File by whichever route you prefer

   Online at serviciosenlinea.daco.pr.gov, with a registered account; on paper, delivered in person at one of DACO’s six offices; or by calling 787-722-7555. Write down the complaint number when you are given it.

Online at serviciosenlinea.daco.pr.gov; on paper at any of DACO’s six offices — San Juan and Central Offices at Centro Gubernamental Minillas, Arecibo, Caguas, Mayagüez, Santa Isabel and the Weights and Measures Laboratory; or by phone at 787-722-7555. The Complaint Status extension in San Juan is 14009, and Administrative Hearings and Mediation is 14022.

• Using the general complaints form for a condominium matter.
• Not reading the form’s seven causes and describing the problem vaguely.
• Assuming that being behind on fees disqualifies you: the form asks, but DACO does not publish the effect.
• Turning up without the Board president’s and secretary’s names, which the form asks for.
• Telling the facts without requesting a concrete remedy.
• Downloading the form from DACO’s page buttons instead of docs.pr.gov.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Asuntos del Consumidor (DACO)

  DACO

  www.daco.pr.gov

• Horizontal property complaint form (docs.pr.gov)

  DACO

  docs.pr.gov

• DACO — regional offices

  DACO

  www.daco.pr.gov