landlord and tenants problem in Puerto Rico

I live in Puerto Rico. My ex-landlord accusing us of destroying his house after living. We gave him the keys ,he is denying this fact...saying that he never received them.
2 weeks before that The landlord took us to court ,because we didn't agree to higher rent . The judge ruled in our favor and gave us 30+20 days to live. The judge told us to clean the house ,take everything out and give the keys to the landlord . That was exactly what we did.We moved in 3 days after court decision ,because we already had another place to live.
12 days past and all of the sudden our ex landlord appeared with Police in front of our house claiming he never got the keys back.The Police went inside the house it was completaly destroyed .The landlord statement at first was that he saw through the window that there is 2000$ damage inside the house (he estimated this just by picking through the window.) than he change this amount to 3000$.
He is also claiming that we stoled his front gate and took the doors from a little laundry room that was outside the property (door were never there!!)and the front gate was ours. We buit it . More.. the day my husband gave keys to the landlord ,my husband was disconnecting this gate and the landlord saw him doing that. We gave him the keys and still didn't leave because my husband had to finish disconnecting that gate .The landlord didn't came to check the house. He lives next door.
He waited 12 days to report the missing front gate and other things missing that 're clearlyvisible from the main road that he drives everyday. This is the only road to live the neighbourhood. We still have that gate (Police saw it ) because is ours.
It looks like he is trying to frame us and renovate his house by our expence.
We 're very quiet family,my husband is a member of National Guard with very good opinion there,we don't have criminal record...and now we 're facing criminal charges for the crime we didn't commit.
The landlord never gave us any contract to singed. We used to live there 3 yaer.
When we moved in the condition of this house was never good. he promised us to fix it in time,but he never did it.
We have no witnesses of the fact of giving the keys back. My husband gave it to the landlord while he was driving back to his house. There was a person inside his car(landlord).
Am I quilty of a crime I didn't commit? It like like he wants to frame me.He is trying to renovate his house by my expence.

You do have to return the gate. If you attached that gate to the LL's fence and property, it became his once you attached it. You cannot later remove this and take it with you. This is called a "fixture" of the property. Once it is permanently attached, it became the LL's. Return this.

As for the other items. Do you have any witneses that saw the property when you first rented it? Any copies of letters you wrote to ask for these things to be fixed (and he didn't do it)? Anyone who saw the property when you left it in good shape? Basically, anyone who can say the property wasn't in good shape when you got it, the LL failed to repair those items, ir that will say you left the property clean? Any receipts for cleaning products or carpet cleaners to show that you did do the job? If not, it will be your word against the LL's in court.

In future, take dated photos of the place when you move in, and again when you move out to show how you received the place and left it.

Thank you for responding.
The gate was made from wooden panels.So we just unsrewed it . The construction of his house was basicaly unfinished . It had never gates.
I 've one witness (its' my recent neihbour ) He helped us to take some furnitures with his truck..adn Yes he was the last one who saw the house inside. The same evening the keys were given back to the landlord. The guy saw my landlord even going up and down with his car.
I don't have no receit because the house didn't have carpet . I just swept the house.
I 've the picture of the bathroom sink that was always broken and not working for 3 years,that I show in the court prooving to the judge that his service of my landlord was bad. The Police told me that the same sink is now completaly destroyed.
Does the fact that he reported the crime after 12 days is suspicious? He shoud 've called Police the same night (seeing my husband disconnecting the gate) or at least next day or next day .....etc. But he didn't do it. Does it look like he didn;t do it because he needed time to get inside tha house and do damage?

Screws are permanent fasteners. If you screwed it to something on the property, you should return the gate. It is now a fixture. Once you attach it, it stays.

Save the sink photo to show that he never fixed it and that it was broken when you moved in. You may need the witness to come to court to testify to the condition of the house when you left and returned the keys. Looks like the LL's place was vandalized.

There is no law that says the LL must file immediately with the police. But that is certainly a point I would bring up in court if he wished to press this matter further. Maybe the judge will see it as suspicious too.

Thanks again for responding.
I did save the picture. The picture was shown in court to the Marshal to proove that his service wasn't too good. When we moved in 3 years ago he didn't give us no lease and he promised to fix these things (sink,missing handles on the kitchen cabinets,mising doors in one bedroom) in time.
Then when rainy season came the roof started to lick and he was taking his time too fix it. THe roof is very old and no fixture helped .After few weeks the problem kept coming back.
We have no witness of handling the keys to him. He was in his car with somebody ,but of course it won't help us.
I think reporting the crime after 12 days is little suspicoius because he lives next door and for him to go anywhere he has to pass by our rented house.SO if he saw that his gate and other stuff were missing he should have call police right away. For example when somebody steal your car parked next to your house you call Police righ away.
How about a motive?
We had no benefits from vandalizing this house. If we 'were the last one living there so..by vandalizing this and not giving the keys back would point RIGHT AWAY at us! He had every motive to do so,'cause this house had old cabinets and it wasn't in very good condition so he tres to renovate it by our expence.
We had court case with him and We were happy with court ruling that gave us 30 days to move,the ex-landlord wanted from us 700$ (he claimed we owe him ) . The judge said "no" to these claims. He ruled to clean the house ,give the keys and leave. We followed the orders. If he told us to call the third party to check the house we 'd have done it...but he didn't and we had no idea the landlord would go to that extend. It never happened to us before.
In Police statement he climed that he rented us only 1 floor of this house. This is a lie also and we have his letter (singed by him) he gave us 2 weeks before the court case...saying that he wants to raise the rent for these 2 floors. That was the reason the case end up in court because we didn't agree to that....and then rest happened.
We also have Police report form tthe incident where he went behind our gate while we weren't home. He said it's his house and he can do whatever he wants. Police told him to leave immediately.

If I were you, I'd simply return the gate to its place and leave it at that. Unless he sues you in court for damages (which I doubt he will do), the whole matter will end there. If he tries to sue you, repost and we will help you get ready for court.

Thank you again. I do appreciate your help.
The whole case is already in motion. The Police took our statements and his. We've been told to wait for phone call or letter to go to The Tribunal to face Marshal and then he 'll decide if the case go to court to face the judge.
we can;t return the gate because I already stated on the Police statement that it's ours,that we built it. We never hid the gate or destroyed ...it's still in front of our new house. If the judge tells us to do so we will.If We do it right now it'll be used against us .
We remember when we buit it 3 years ago we told the landlord that we will take the gate with us. He said we could do whatever we want with it.
We ;re very quiet family . My husband is a member of National Guard with very good opinion.
Soon he will go for very important training and for that he has to have clean record otherwise he won't be able to do that training. He can;t even "spit a sidewalk" .He loves what he does and he wouldn't do nothing to loose it. After graduating this training he also has a great opportunity for good job. We really have so much to look forward .
We would never do nothing like that (vandalizing the house and then ...keep the keys????!!!!)and then loose everything??? (oportunity for better live ,better job )....so pathetic.
We went through some tough times (jobwise etc) ..now we stareted to feel like we 're going in right direction .New better house,future better job .case in court ruled in our favor (the judge senced our ex-landlord lies)...we had no interest in vandalizing this house and jeopardize everything.

Two days ago the investigator called us to ask question about the incident. Now he told us 'd go to do the investigation among the neighbours . He also mentioned that it's been on our benefit that we have a witness who saw tha house the day we gave the keys back (few hous earlier).
He said that the case might end up soon because there is no proove that we vandelized the house and there is also no proove that the landlord didn't received the keys back.
The ladnlord gave the investigator the estimation of damage of the house. It looks more like a "wish list" to renovate the house. He estimated the damage for 5600$.