Amendments to Puerto Rico’s Homestead Protections Have Been Signed Into Law

Governor Jenniffer González recently enacted Law 8-2026, which amends Articles 8 and 12 of Law 195-2011, known as Homestead Protection Law. These amendments introduce important changes to the timelines and conditions under which homestead protections apply.

Prior to this amendment, Article 8 provided sellers of a protected homestead property with a nine (9) month timeframe to reinvest the proceeds from the sale.  During this reinvestment window, the funds received from the sale were protected from creditors. Law 8-2026 extends this reinvestment period to twelve (12) months, granting homeowners additional time to acquire a new primary residence while preserving creditor protection. However, the amended Article 8 introduces a new limitation: if the seller acquires a new property of lesser value than the property sold, the difference is funds is not protected under the provisions the Homestead Protection Law.

On the other hand, Article 12 previously required individuals to request the homestead protection benefit within thirty (30) days from either: (i) the initiation of execution proceedings against their property to satisfy a judgment; or (ii) the filling of a preventative annotation or any other mechanism aimed at securing a judgment. With the enactment of Law 8-2026, this period has been extended to sixty (60) days.