Peru

Registering Property in

Peru

Listed below is a detailed summary of the steps, time and cost involved in registering property, assuming a standardized case of an entrepreneur who wants to purchase land and a building that is already registered and free of title dispute.

The information appearing on this page was collected as part of the Doing Business project, which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small- to medium-sized domestic business in 183 economies. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2011.

  • Standard Property Transfer

  • Property Value: PEN 705,458.56
  • City: Lima

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Obtain a Property Registry Certificate

A Property Registry Certificate (CRI, Certificado Registral Inmobiliario) is obtained from the Property Registry to verify the existence and characteristics/description of the property (land and construction), the identity of the owner, and to check whether it is a clean title (free from attachments, mortgages, or any encumbrances of judicial or extra judicial nature).
The notary will verify that the municipal taxes (Property Tax (Impuesto Predial) and Municipal services (public gardening, public parks, municipal police, garbage collection, other services)) have been paid. The information is obtained at the municipality by requesting a “cortado” at no cost and in 1 day. The notary public must mention in the Public Deed related to the sale of real estate, the official document showing the cancelation of the Property Tax for all years.
However, for the perfection of the transfer (Public Deed) it will require a Notary. The tax amounts to 1.61% of a Peruvian Tax Unit (T.U.). For Fiscal 2011 (calendar year) the TU is PEN 3,600.




Agency: Property Registry (Superintendencia Nacional de los Registros Publicos - SUNARP) 		2-5 days PEN 60
2 The notary public executes the sale-purchase agreement

The notary executes the sale-purchase agreement or 'minuta' and can deliver it for registration only through the public deed that the minuta and its legal attachments generate. Since the process to generate the public deed could take some time, principally for the obtaining of the different legal attachments, it is strongly recommended to file for a 'preliminary reservation' (bloqueo) on the property register.

Known as the 'blocking' of the property registry, this measure protects the purchaser from any third party filings before the public deed is officially filed for registration, and can be requested by the Notary only with a copy of the minute while the public deed does not exist yet. The blocking of the Registry expires after 60 working days as of registration. The public deed generated is printed by the notary and the transfer tax is liquidated with the instructions for payment.
Fees are subject to market values and conditions, the complexity of the transaction, promptness and availability of parties to comply with formalities and signing of the public deed, etc. a reasonably valid estimate could be:" 0.4-0.5% for transaction values of up to US$ 30,000. 0.1-0.25% for transaction values above US$ 30,000 on a declining basis as transaction values increase. After paying the transfer tax (impuesto de alcabala) and verifying that the seller has made the last payment of municipal taxes, the Notary will prepare the official transcription of the SPA in the Notarial Registry.

The Notary verifies the identity of the parties, compliance with all mandatory formalities and as the case may be of corporate and civil Powers of Representation (powers of attorney) and proceeds to have the parties sign the Public Deed after which he himself signs thus authorizing the completion of the Public Deed as a public Notarial document. The document is ready for registration. It may be the same notary who takes the Deed to the Registry.



Agency: Notary Public 		1 day 0.1-0.25% of property value (Notary’s fees)
3 Payment of Transfer tax (“Impuesto de Alcabala”)

The Transfer tax (Alcabala) must be paid at the Tax Service Administration (Servicio de Administración Tributaria, SAT). The tax agency SAT is connected with the notaries through the internet (https://www.sat.gob.pe/TF/default.asp) to facilitate the payment of municipal taxes (including the transfer tax called Alcabala). The payment can be made on behalf of a client by the notary instantaneously, and no physical visits or wait time is involved in this process. Nevertheless, the aforementioned payment may also be executed in Notaries with debit and credit card, or bank transfers since late 2008, due to notaries have been allowed to connect to SAT system through satellite connection. As soon as the transaction clears, the notary prints the receipt and hands it to the client.

The payment can be made at:https://www.sat.gob.pe/TF/default.asp. This reform started back in 2005 under the name “NotarioSAT” with an objective of enabling the electronic payment and processing of Alcabala. In mid 2009, 71 out of 104 notaries in Lima participated in this programme. The programme is web-based and easy to access.
The tax amounts to 3% of the Municipal value of the property or of the transfer value, whichever is higuest, on the excess of 10 Tax Units (T.U.). The amount of 10 Tax Units (36,000 TU) shall be discounted from the tax basis. This tax is payable by the purchaser. Since January 2009, the TU is PES 3,600. Even if there is usually a difference between the Municipal and the real value of the property, such differences are not systematic.

Since January 1st 2004, (non-juridical person) vendors must pay a capital gains tax levied on the difference between the purchase price of the (non residence) property acquired as of January 1st, 2004 and the sales price of the same. The tax is 5% of the difference in prices and it is an advance payment on the Income Tax (this only takes places if the property sold was acquired after 1/1/2004).



Agency: Tax Service Administration (Servicio de Administración Tributaria de la Municipalidad Metropolitana de Lima - SAT). 		1 day 3% of the Municipal value of the property in excess of PEN 36,000 (10 Tax units UIT)
4 The public deed is filed for registration with the Property Registry

Filing for registration of the Public Deed with the Property Register.
Normally, it is the Notary who carries out this act but it is not mandated by law. Filing is a free act and is not restricted to any Officer in particular.
If the Notary is not in the same jurisdiction of the Property Register, he may engage a Notary with the same Notarial Jurisdiction as that of the Property Register.
The registration fee is 0.15% if the value of the property is below PEN 35,000, otherwise it is 0.3% of the purchase price, up to a maximum of PEN 3,600 or 1 T.U., if the property value of the property is greater.

The Public Registry (SUNARP) allows all owners to know at any time and at no cost via email all transactions that the property has undergone (Alerta Registral) http://www.sunarp.gob.pe/alertaregistral/

According to the Regulation Public Registry Resolution N° 032-2010 of February 25, 2010, in the cases of simple transfers ("compra-venta simples") the Public Registry must record it in a maximum of 48 hours at no extra cost; according to the said Resolution in order to be considered as a simple transfer, the operation must fulfilled the following requirements: (i) the operation must be related about a unique parcel properly registered, (ii) the procedure can only involves one electronic entry, and (iii) the seller must appear as owner in the Public Registry."

When the client submits the transfer to SUNARP, SUNARP checks and verifies if the sale falls into this category. It then assigns the work to the relevant "seccion" (composed of one registrador, 2 assistants and one apprentice). Some "secciones" are specifically assigned to this type of transactions. Also, standard minutes have been published in the website to promote their use. The legal framework of Peru does not allow providing incentives for employees. Regular procedures will take longer (7 working days according to the reglamento general de registros públicos).


Agency: Property Registry (Superintendencia Nacional de los Registros Publicos - SUNARP) 		2 days (simple transfers at no extra cost) or 9 days (regular) PEN 30 (filing and presentation fees: 0.81% of 1 UIT) + 0.3% of property value (registration fee, with a limit of 1 UIT)
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