ADU Pass
Catano
No County portion
Also in: Cataño Municipio · Guaynabo Municipio
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Catano, No County, Puerto Rico navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. This area covers 1 ZIP code.
ADU details
ADU legality: unclear
Puerto Rico leaves ADU regulation to local municipalities under home-rule or Dillon-rule authority. Catano permits ADUs subject to local conditions per its zoning ordinance.
Cost scenarios
| Scenario | Sq ft | Permit | Build | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| minimum | 150 | $1,800 | $40,500 | $42,300 |
| 600 | 600 | $1,800 | $162,000 | $163,800 |
| midpoint | 525 | $1,800 | $141,750 | $143,550 |
| maximum | 900 | $1,800 | $243,000 | $244,800 |
Fee breakdown (as of 2026-04)
Permitting process
- Pre-consulta / cross-listing check (~7d)
Cross-listing entry: governance authority is the Catano Municipio (Catano is not an autonomous-permits municipality). Verify on Mapa de Calificacion (Reglamento Conjunto 2023) which calificacion (R-3, R-I, R-G, S-U, etc.) covers the parcel and whether structura accesoria de vivienda is permitted by-right or requires consulta de ubicacion. - Endoso EOGPe / municipal endorsement (~14d)
Catano routes most construction permits through OGPe (Oficina de Gerencia de Permisos) since it is not yet a Categoria V autonomous-permits municipality. Obtain municipal endorsement (endoso) from Catano Oficina de Ordenamiento Territorial confirming compatibility with the Plan de Ordenamiento Territorial (POT) before OGPe submission. - Permiso Unico de Construccion submittal at OGPe SCEP (~1d)
Submit through Sistema OGPe (https://ogpe.pr.gov/) under Reglamento Conjunto 2023 (Reglamento 9473). Application requires sello del profesional autorizado (PA), planos firmados, certificacion CRIM, and patente municipal where applicable. ADU treated as estructura accesoria within the principal residential calificacion. - Concurrent agency review (DRNA, JCA, Bomberos, Salud) (~30d)
OGPe coordinates concurrent endorsements: DRNA (drainage/coastal under Catano's bay-front exposure), Junta de Calidad Ambiental, Bomberos, and Departamento de Salud. Catano harbor zone may add coastal-zone consulta. - Permit issuance and arbitrios payment (~7d)
OGPe issues Permiso Unico; Catano collects municipal arbitrios de construccion under Codigo Municipal Ley 107-2020 Articulo 2.109. Pay before commencing. - Inspections (cimientos, estructura, electrica, plomeria, final)
Inspector autorizado conducts staged inspections per Reglamento de Construccion de PR. Coastal-zone parcels in Bahia de San Juan need additional drainage check. - Permiso de Uso (certificate of occupancy) (~10d)
Permiso de Uso issues after all inspections clear; required before connecting AAA water service or AEE/LUMA electric service to a new accessory unit.
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: yes Long-term rental of ADU generally permitted; landlord-tenant law and any city rental-registration ordinance apply.
- Short-term rental: with-restrictions STR rules vary by city. Catano regulates STRs separately from ADU permitting; check local STR ordinance and HOA covenants.
- Office rental: with-restrictions Detached office rental requires home occupation permit or rezoning.
- Home office: yes Home occupation permitted with restrictions on signage and customer traffic.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal artist studio is a permitted accessory use.
- Agriculture: with-restrictions Limited urban agriculture permitted in residential zones; livestock varies by district.
- Relative support: yes Family-occupancy ADU explicitly permitted in single-family zones.
Utilities
- Water: Catano Water Utility · 30d connect · $4,500
- Sewer: Catano Sewer / Wastewater · 30d connect · $5,500
- Electric: Catano Electric Utility · 21d connect · $1,800
- Gas: Catano Gas Utility · 30d connect · $1,500
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 9mo · typical 14mo · worst 22mo
Financing
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
Puerto Rico's condominium regime is more sophisticated than most US territories — Law 129-2020 modernized the framework, mandated separate operating and reserve accounts, and added a short-term-rental floor — but it does not preempt CC&R restrictions on accessory dwellings. Conventional planned-unit-development HOAs outside the condominium framework are governed by general civil-code contract principles. Practical impact: in Puerto Rico's many condominium and gated-community contexts, ADU rights depend on the master deed.
Regulatory overlays (1)
- seismic-zone
Seismic Design Category D2 per ASCE 7; soft-story and unreinforced-masonry seismic considerations may apply.
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
- Amendment
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: City of Catano Municipal Code — Accessory Dwelling Units, adopted 2020-01-01, last amended 2024-04-01
- 2024-01-01 — City of Catano ADU code refresh (city-ordinance)
Conforming local-code amendments aligning with current Puerto Rico accessory-dwelling framework.
Effect: Codified permissive ADU standards consistent with state law and local zoning.
County: no attribution (synthetic bucket)
No county
This city sits in the state's "no county" bucket — its ADU rules derive directly from state law and city ordinance without a county intermediary. No county-level sections apply.
Puerto Rico state — ADU law and programs
State HOA preemption
Puerto Rico's condominium regime is more sophisticated than most US territories — Law 129-2020 modernized the framework, mandated separate operating and reserve accounts, and added a short-term-rental floor — but it does not preempt CC&R restrictions on accessory dwellings. Conventional planned-unit-development HOAs outside the condominium framework are governed by general civil-code contract principles. Practical impact: in Puerto Rico's many condominium and gated-community contexts, ADU rights depend on the master deed.
State financing programs
Puerto Rico's primary public housing financing vehicle is the Puerto Rico Department of Housing (Departamento de la Vivienda, PRDOH), which administers HUD CDBG-DR and CDBG-MIT recovery funds tied to Hurricanes Irma and María (2017) and the 2019–2020 earthquake sequence. The flagship homeowner-side program is R3 — the Home Repair, Reconstruction, or Relocation Program — funded with $2.2B+ of the $10B in CDBG-DR funds HUD has allocated to Puerto Rico for hurricane recovery. R3 funds repair, reconstruction, or relocation for single-family homes damaged by qualifying disasters; ADU-equivalent accessory structures could be built as part of a qualifying reconstruction but the program is not ADU-targeted. The Puerto Rico Housing Finance Authority (Autoridad para el Financiamiento de la Vivienda, AFV) issues mortgage-revenue-bond first-mortgage financing for first-time homebuyers. Outside the disaster-recovery channels, there is no commonwealth-wide ADU-specific consumer loan or grant.
Federal (United States) — ADU-relevant rules and programs
Federal ADU law
The United States has no federal statute that directly regulates accessory dwelling unit entitlement or design. Land-use authority over ADUs resides with states and local governments under the traditional police power. Federal engagement is limited to financing (Fannie/Freddie/FHA/VA/USDA), flood insurance (FEMA/NFIP), and discretionary housing programs (HUD), which are recorded in sibling sections of this file.
Federal financing programs
Federal housing-finance agencies and GSEs set nationwide underwriting rules that govern whether an ADU can be financed, appraised, and counted toward mortgage qualifying income. The relevant actors are Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA (HUD), VA, and USDA Rural Development.
Federal tax credits
There is no ADU-specific federal tax credit. ADUs may incidentally qualify for existing federal energy-efficiency and clean-energy tax credits when the ADU construction includes qualifying measures.
Federal housing programs
HUD administers several discretionary programs that can fund ADU-related activity at the grantee's election, but none is an ADU-specific program.
ZIP Code
- 00963
Post Office
- 131 Ave Barbosa, 00962