An apartment can be viewed in forty minutes. The building around it cannot be viewed at all: it has to be read, in documents nobody will offer you spontaneously. Yet that is where the most expensive surprises sit, because once you own, you inherit the collective arrangements exactly as they are.
This guide answers one precise question: how do you check how a Lima building runs, and where it stands financially, before committing? It follows on from our checklist of criteria for choosing an apartment, which covers the home itself, and it does not repeat either the purchase process or the framework applying to short-term letting, both covered elsewhere.
A legal framework in transition, and it matters for what follows
Peru's condominium regime is changing, but it has not changed yet. Legislative Decree 1568, published on 28 May 2023, creates a new horizontal property regime and repeals Title III of Law 27157. Its First final complementary provision, however, states that it only enters into force one hundred and eighty calendar days after the publication of its implementing regulations, and its single repealing provision only takes effect from that entry into force. Those regulations had still not been published at the end of August 2026: on 29 July 2026, Lima's Ninth Constitutional Court ordered the executive to approve and publish them within thirty working days. Whatever the actual publication date, the one hundred and eighty day period that follows means that Decree 1568 is not applicable at the time of writing. What we describe below is therefore the law in force today: Title III of Law 27157 and its regulations, the consolidated text approved by Supreme Decree 035-2006-VIVIENDA. We flag along the way the points on which the future regime will change things.
Five statuses never to be confused
Throughout this guide we distinguish what is a legal obligation, applying to every building; a rule specific to the building, written into its internal rules or decided in general meeting; a contractual provision, negotiated between seller and buyer; a common practice, widespread but not binding; and a plain recommendation to verify from us. A useful document is not thereby a document you can demand, and what a building does in practice does not carry the same weight as a clause in its rules.
What you buy beyond the apartment
The applicable regime is called propiedad exclusiva y propiedad común, exclusive property and common property. You buy a unit of exclusive property, your apartment, to which a participation percentage in the common property attaches. That percentage is not decorative: it determines your weight in votes and, in principle, your share of the charges.
Legal obligation. The regulations provide that this percentage is set in the building's internal rules, on reasonable criteria such as the area occupied by the exclusive units, their location or the use they are put to. In other words, the law does not impose floor area as the single key: it requires the key to be in the rules and to be reasonable.
Legal obligation. Participation in the common property is a right accessory to your unit: it passes with it and cannot be separated from it. The transfer of your unit includes the items that make it up, the participation in the common property and the rights of use, passage or easement affecting it.
The trap of parking spaces, storage rooms and terraces
This is the point that causes the most misunderstanding among European buyers, and it is worth pausing on.
A parking space can fall into three very different legal situations. It may be a full unit of exclusive property, separately registered with its own partida registral in the land registry. It may be a common asset allocated to your exclusive use, recorded as such in the internal rules: you have the enjoyment of it, but you do not own it and cannot sell it separately. Or it may be nothing more than a space used by tolerance, with no documentary basis at all, which happens more often than one would think in older buildings.
Legal obligation. The regulations to Law 27157 list among the non-transferable common assets "the parking spaces required by the regulations", unless the internal rules provide otherwise. A building may therefore perfectly well contain spaces that will never be separately saleable, because they meet a planning requirement.
The same reasoning applies to storage rooms and to terraces. A terrace reached from your living room may be private property, a common asset for exclusive use, or a common roof over which nobody holds any particular right. Roof terraces and basements are moreover presumed to be common property, unless the title deeds say otherwise.
The three documents to check against the listing
The partida registral of your unit, which says what you are buying and with what. The registered internal rules, which list the units, the common assets and the participation percentages. The plans annexed to those rules, which locate the spaces. If the listing mentions "a parking space and a storage room" but they appear in none of the three, the use observed during the viewing proves nothing. Have the listing reworded, or the position confirmed in writing, before making any offer.
Who runs the building and who decides
Three roles coexist, and confusing them means approaching the wrong person at the wrong moment.
The junta de propietarios
The junta de propietarios, the owners' association, is made up of all the owners of the exclusive units and represents them collectively. Legal obligation. It is fully constituted when the internal rules are drawn up, and it is registered at the land registry, on the partida of the parent property or on the one corresponding to the common assets. One owner's withdrawal neither prevents the association from being constituted nor releases them from the common obligations or from the decisions taken.
One figure gives the measure of the subject. According to SUNARP, the Peruvian land registry, 1,899 juntas de propietarios were registered across the country between January 2025 and August 2026, 448 of them in Lima. For context, the Sociedad Peruana de Bienes Raíces estimated in 2019 that 95 % of buildings in the capital had no association registered with the public registries. That industry estimate is old and we did not find it updated by an official source, but the order of magnitude is worth knowing: in many Lima buildings, the collective organisation exists in practice without being formalised at the registry.
The president
Legal obligation. The association is chaired by one of its members, who exercises the legal representation of the condominium and holds the general and special powers of representation set out in the Peruvian Code of Civil Procedure. To exercise that representation in court, they need a notary-certified copy of the minutes of the meeting recording their appointment, duly registered. The internal rules may also provide for a committee.
The building administrator
Legal obligation. Every building subject to this regime must have a general administrator, appointed by the association. This may be the president, one of the occupants whether an owner or not, or a natural or legal person specifically engaged for the role. Their duties are listed in the regulations: overseeing the proper running and conservation of the common assets and services, collecting the charges, ensuring payments for common services are up to date, keeping the accounts, making visits after notice, keeping the minute book, and above all drawing up and putting to the association the annual budget of income and expenditure. That last point is worth remembering: the annual budget is not a favour granted to you, it is a document the administrator is required to produce.
Building administrator and letting agent: two trades, two contracts
The building administrator works for the body of owners and manages the common parts. The letting agent works for you alone and manages your apartment: finding a tenant, collecting the rent, maintaining your unit. They have neither the same principal, nor the same duties, nor the same counterpart. A letting agent cannot represent you at a general meeting without a specific mandate, and the building administrator will never deal with your tenant. Our guide to rental management with a local partner covers the second; this guide covers the first.
Checking identity and powers
Recommendation to verify. Ask for the name of the president and of the administrator, then check that what you are told matches what is registered. SUNARP publishes the procedure for registering the association: it requires a notary-certified copy of the minutes of election, a certificate of convocation with a notarised signature, and a sworn declaration confirming that all owners were convened. If the sitting president is not the one on the register, that is not necessarily irregular, but it tells you something about how formalised the building is, and therefore how easily the condominium will be able to act in court the day it needs to.
How decisions are taken
Legal obligation, unless the internal rules provide otherwise. Meetings are convened by the president with at least five calendar days' notice, by a means that keeps proof of delivery or receipt, and by notices posted in the building. A qualified majority means the favourable vote of owners representing at least two thirds of the participations in the common property. Works on common assets require a simple majority when they are for conservation or maintenance, and a qualified majority when they modify or restrict their use. Meetings and resolutions must be recorded in a legalised minute book.
One detail that matters for a non-resident buyer: the regulations provide that meetings are necessarily held in the building. We come back to this below.
What the service charge covers
The cuotas de mantenimiento, the monthly charges, fund the common services. What they contain varies widely from one building to another, which is exactly why two figures cannot be compared without comparing what they buy.
Legal obligation. The regulations to Law 27157 distinguish mandatory common services from the rest. Mandatory for every building under the regime are: the cleaning, conservation and maintenance of the common areas and spaces, of the sanitary and electrical installations in common use and, more generally, of any component of the common assets, including their repair or replacement. Other services, once decided by the association, become mandatory in turn.
The items you will come across
- Security and concierge cover. Often the largest single item in Lima buildings. A twenty-four-hour concierge means several full-time posts, and that shows up immediately in the monthly charge.
- Staff and cleaning of lobbies, corridors, stairs, car parks and outdoor areas.
- Water and electricity for the common parts, and in some buildings the water for the whole block when it is not individually metered.
- Lifts: maintenance contract, call-outs, and where applicable the emergency telephone line.
- Pumps and tanks. Many Lima buildings run on a cistern and a pumping system: maintenance, periodic tank cleaning, pump replacement.
- Administration: the administrator's fees, accounting, bank charges.
- Leisure facilities where they exist: pool, gym, roof terrace, function room, coworking space. They cost what they cost to maintain, whether used or not.
- Routine maintenance: small repairs, supplies, gardening, waste removal.
- Insurance, where it exists. The regime in force does not require the condominium to insure the building. Some do, by resolution of the association or by a clause in their rules; others do not. Ask the question, do not assume it.
- A reserve, where it exists. No reserve fund is legally compulsory under the current regime. Where a building builds one up, it is a resolution of the association or a rule of its own, and it is rather a good sign.
Four categories not to be mixed up
Ordinary charges fund day-to-day running and are paid monthly. Extraordinary expenditure follows a specific resolution of the association, typically works, and takes the form of a capital call. Individual consumption, the electricity in your apartment, gas, internet, and water where it is separately metered, is not a condominium charge but your own bill. Municipal taxes, finally, are different again: the Impuesto Predial and the arbitrios are declared and paid to the district municipality and do not pass through the building administrator. They are covered in our guide to the total cost of buying property in Lima.
How the charges are shared
This is the subject on which imported European assumptions do the most damage, so let us be precise.
Legal obligation. Payment of the common charges is made according to the percentages set in the internal rules, taking into account criteria such as use, occupied space, demand for services, the number of people occupying the units, their location or accessibility. The text adds a decisive point: those percentages are not necessarily equal to those of participation in the ownership of the common assets.
Legal obligation. The mandatory content of the internal rules confirms this structure: they must state both each owner's participation percentage in the common assets and their participation percentage in the common charges, the latter being equal to the former unless a different criterion is adopted.
In practice: there is no universal rule in Peru that charges are shared by floor area. The key is the one carried by your building's internal rules, and it may perfectly well weight use rather than square metres. So it is the internal rules you must consult, not a general rule.
The practical questions everyone asks
The apartment stays empty, do I still pay? Yes. Legal obligation. The regulations to Law 27157 are explicit: the fact that a unit is or remains unoccupied, whatever the length of the vacancy, does not exempt its owner from paying the charges, unless otherwise agreed. That reservation matters: internal rules or a resolution may provide otherwise, but the principle is payment.
I use neither the pool nor the gym, can I be exempted? In principle no, since you contribute to maintaining common assets you have the enjoyment of, whether you exercise it or not. Some internal rules provide for differentiated contributions for certain facilities. That is a rule specific to the building, to be checked case by case, not a general rule.
Water is on a single meter, how is it shared? In buildings with one meter, the water bill becomes a common charge shared according to the key in the internal rules, sometimes adjusted for the number of declared occupants. Ask explicitly how the building proceeds: it can be a significant share of the monthly charge, and a purely area-based split is often resented there.
Do the parking space and storage room carry their own contribution? It depends on their status and on the internal rules. Where they are separate exclusive units, they carry their own participation percentage and may therefore bear their own share. Where they are common assets for exclusive use, the question is settled by the rules or by a resolution. Check on an actual charge statement rather than on an oral explanation.
And if my tenant occupies the flat? Legal obligation. The regulations provide that the tenant or any other occupant pays the common charges punctually where their contract so provides; in that case the owner remains jointly liable to the association. In plain terms for an investor: the lease can put the monthly charge in the tenant's hands, but that does not discharge you towards the condominium if the tenant fails to pay.
Examining the building's finances
Here is the part almost no foreign buyer does, and the one that separates a viewing from a real check.
The documents to read
The annual budget approved by the association, which shows what the building expects to spend and on what assumptions. The accounts for recent years, which show what it actually spent. The gap between the two is more instructive than either on its own. The charge statements for your unit over twelve to twenty-four months, which reveal seasonality, adjustments and extraordinary calls. The cash position: what the condominium holds today, in hand and at the bank. The state of arrears, in aggregate. And the amounts owed to suppliers: a condominium can show a decent cash balance while owing its security company three months.
A recommendation to verify, not a legal obligation. Nothing obliges a seller to hand you all of these before an offer, and no rule sets the period to examine. We suggest two complete financial years and twelve to twenty-four months of statements, because that is the depth at which a trend becomes visible. A seller who refuses any disclosure is already telling you something, and you remain free to draw your conclusions.
A low charge is not good news in itself
This is the most frequent misreading. A low monthly charge can mean three very different things.
It can reflect efficient management: a building without expensive facilities, well kept, with negotiated contracts and little staff. That is excellent news.
It can reflect deferred maintenance: the pump is not replaced, the façade is repainted every fifteen years, the lift overhaul is put off. The expense has not disappeared, it is accumulating and will arrive as a capital call, often at the worst moment.
It can, finally, reflect a high level of arrears forcing the building to operate below its needs.
The converse also holds: a high charge does not prove good management. It may fund services genuinely delivered, or a badly negotiated contract, or overstaffing. The only way to tell is to set the charge against the services actually provided and against the visible state of the building.
Three comparisons that speak
Compare the monthly charge with the number of units: the same security team costs far more per apartment in a twenty-unit building than in an eighty-unit one. Compare the maintenance spend of the last three years with the visible state of the common parts: a spotless lobby with a near-zero maintenance budget deserves an explanation. And compare the total arrears with the annual budget: if they represent a significant fraction of it, the owners who pay are in fact funding those who do not, and that will eventually be corrected.
Seller's debts and collective arrears
Three distinct situations hide behind the word "debts", and they call for different answers.
Amounts owed by the seller on their own unit: unpaid charges, capital calls not met, any penalties.
Arrears of other owners towards the condominium: they are not claimed from you, but they affect the building's ability to maintain its common assets, and therefore the likelihood of a future capital call.
Debts of the condominium towards its suppliers: security, lift maintenance, water or electricity providers. These are collective commitments you will contribute to as a new co-owner.
What the law says, and what it does not
Clarity is needed here, because this point is often asserted wrongly in both directions.
Legal obligation. Unpaid receipts for ordinary or extraordinary charges constitute enforceable instruments on which enforcement proceedings can be brought. The regulations specify that where payment is three consecutive months late, the president of the association may proceed by the enforcement route without prior conciliation, whereas extrajudicial conciliation is in principle a mandatory first step for other disputes. An owner three ordinary charges or one extraordinary charge in arrears at the time of convocation is moreover declared inhabilitado: they may attend meetings with a voice but no vote, are not counted towards the quorum, and cannot challenge resolutions, until they regularise.
What the current regime does not provide. We found, neither in Title III of Law 27157 nor in its regulations, any provision automatically transferring to the new buyer the charge debt left by the seller, nor any mechanism registering that debt against the unit. We will therefore not assert it in either direction: what is certain is that the text does not organise such a transfer, and that who bears the arrears is settled in practice by the contract and by checking beforehand. This is a point for your Peruvian lawyer to settle in the light of the internal rules of the building concerned.
What will change. Legislative Decree 1568, once in force, is designed precisely to fill that gap: where charges go unpaid, a carga may be registered against the unit's partida registral, by resolution of the association, on terms left to its implementing regulations. It also creates a national register of charge debtors whose data may feed the risk central of the SBS, the banking supervisor. These mechanisms are not yet applicable, and the Peruvian press noted in August 2026 that the SBS had not yet begun setting up that register.
The constancia de no adeudo
Common practice in Lima is to ask the administrator for a constancia de no adeudo, a certificate stating that the unit is up to date with its charges. It is a useful document and you should ask for it.
Common practice, not a legal instrument. We found no provision of the regime in force that defines this document, requires it to be issued, or attaches a discharging effect to it. In practice that means a constancia is worth what the information of the person signing it is worth, on the date they sign it. It does not cover later adjustments, nor a capital call approved but not yet issued, nor a disputed debt. Ask for it dated, signed, identifying its author and expressly stating the unit and the period covered, and complete it with the charge statements themselves.
Contractual provision. The real protection lies elsewhere: in the contract. Have it state who bears the charges due up to the handover date, how the current month is apportioned, what happens to a capital call approved before signature but issued afterwards, and what happens if arrears emerge later. These are ordinary clauses that a Peruvian lawyer drafts without difficulty, provided they are asked to.
Works and maintenance to anticipate
Buildings age, and some items are expensive. The aim is not to survey a building, which is neither your role nor ours, but to know which questions to ask and which documents to read.
The items that weigh
Lifts come first: age, make, maintenance contract, breakdown history, and above all whether a modernisation is programmed. In a tower, the number of lifts relative to the number of units also governs daily comfort.
Façades and waterproofing. Façade repairs or roof waterproofing renewal are typically the expenses that translate into a four-figure capital call per unit.
The water, drainage and electrical networks, whose age governs how often incidents occur.
Pumps and tanks, with the maintenance and periodic cleaning of cisterns, a recurring expense in many Lima buildings.
Fire and safety equipment: detection, extinguishers, emergency lighting, fire doors, and a generator where there is one.
Corrosion, finally, depending on exposure. Right by the seafront, in Miraflores, Barranco, Magdalena or Chorrillos, salt-laden air attacks exposed metal: balustrades, external joinery, ironmongery, terrace fittings. A well-maintained coastal building shows the marks of regular treatment; a neglected one is recognised by its points of oxidation.
Four categories of works
- Routine maintenance, funded by the ordinary charges, which should hold no surprises.
- Major replacement of an asset at the end of its life: lift, pumps, generator. Predictable, often deferred.
- Approved works, resolved in general meeting, with funding settled. They bind you from the moment you become an owner, and this is the most important point in this section.
- Contemplated works, discussed in meeting without a resolution. They do not bind you yet, but they signal what is coming.
Recommendation to verify. The minutes of the last two or three years are the best source on all four categories, because they show what was resolved, what was discussed and what was postponed. Complete them with the maintenance contracts in force, any technical reports, the quotations obtained and the history of works carried out.
When to bring in a technical professional. As soon as something touches the structure, the waterproofing or the safety of the building, and as soon as the financial stake exceeds what you are willing to discover after the event. An architect or engineer registered with their professional college in Peru is the competent person. We are neither, and a technical opinion is not replaced by an attentive viewing.
Do the rules fit your plans?
A perfect apartment in a building whose rules forbid your intended use is not a good buy. This check takes an hour and is done before the offer, not after.
Legal obligation. Units of exclusive property may be put to any use permitted by the rules in force, save for the limitations set out in the internal rules. That is the provision that gives the internal rules their force: they can restrict the use of your own apartment, within the limits of the law.
The points to read
The permitted use of the unit. The internal rules must state the intended use of each unit: dwelling, retail, office, parking or other. A unit declared for residential use is not freely convertible into an office or a shop.
Short-term letting. This is the most frequent question and the worst handled. The internal rules may restrict it, and several Lima municipalities have also regulated the practice. One point deserves saying plainly: silence in the rules is not a reliable authorisation. Rules that say nothing leave the question open, and a general meeting can later amend them. The applicable framework, the tax treatment and the economics are covered in our guide to Airbnb in Lima; here, simply remember that the answer is found in the registered rules, in recent minutes and with the municipality, not by inference.
Works inside your unit. Legal obligation. You may carry out works within your unit provided you do not breach the rules in force, do not impair the safety and functioning of the building and do not affect the rights of others. The municipal works licence must be obtained beforehand and the start date notified to the association. And if the works alter the volumetry, the architectural style or the external appearance, the prior approval of the association is required. A standard interior refurbishment is therefore not a matter for the association; enclosing a balcony is.
The rest of communal life: noise and quiet hours, visitor access, pets, removal slots, booking the service lift, use of the common areas and their facilities. These are typically rules specific to the building, and they govern your comfort as much as your ability to let.
Rules, instructions and regulation: three different levels
The registered internal rules are the text that legally binds the owners. The administrator's instructions, notices, circulars and custom, do not carry the same force: they may be useful, but they do not create an obligation where the rules are silent. Municipal and national regulation, finally, applies to everyone and may prohibit what the rules permit. Before asserting that a restriction applies, or that it is invalid, check which level it belongs to. A clause in internal rules is not unlimited: it cannot contradict the law, and its scope is assessed case by case, with a lawyer.
The particular case of a new building
Buying in a new building does not remove this check: it moves it. The historical documents do not exist yet, so you examine assumptions rather than accounts.
Who administers during the transition? In the first months, management is often handled by the developer or by an administrator it has appointed, until the association is effectively constituted and elects its representatives. Ask who administers today, until when, and how the handover is planned. Legal obligation. The association is constituted with the drawing up of the internal rules, which must name the president if there is already a plurality of owners at the time of registration.
On what assumptions are the announced charges based? This is the most important point. An estimate given before handover is a forecast, generally built on a fully occupied building, with contracts not yet negotiated and no consumption history. The real running cost frequently differs, upwards or downwards, and only settles after several months of operation. Ask for the detail item by item rather than a single figure, and ask explicitly what occupancy rate was assumed.
Is all the equipment already working? A partly delivered building is still a site: unfinished common parts, a pool not yet in service, an empty gym. That has two consequences, one for your comfort and one for the charges, which will rise as those facilities come into use.
What documents exist? The internal rules and their registration, the plans, the first budget, the contracts already signed, and the state of progress of the administrative and registry formalities. The latter follow their own timetable, described in our guide to taking delivery of a new apartment in Lima, where one sees that a home can be handed over and occupied before its independización is complete.
A word of balance to close: transition difficulties are not systematic. Many developments move from developer management to a constituted association without notable incident. What separates the difficult cases from the rest is almost always the clarity of the documents handed over at the outset.
Following the condominium from Europe
You will not be in the building, and yet you are a co-owner of it. A few practical arrangements are enough to stop decisions being taken without you.
Receiving notices. Legal obligation, unless the rules provide otherwise. Meetings are convened with at least five calendar days' notice, by a means leaving a trace of delivery or receipt, letter, fax, email or equivalent, and by notices posted in the building. Give the administration, in writing, an email address and an address for service, and get it acknowledged. Five days' notice is short when you live nine time zones away: that is precisely why you must be certain you are on the distribution list.
Being represented. Legal obligation. Owners may be represented at meetings as provided in the internal rules. The proxy must be given in writing and specially for each meeting, unless it is a power granted by notarial deed. In other words, and contrary to a widespread belief, a notarised power of attorney is not systematically necessary: a written mandate, drawn up meeting by meeting, is enough within the framework set by the rules. A notarial power has the advantage of lasting for the agreed term rather than a single meeting, which can justify its cost if you expect a long absence.
Voting remotely. Caution here. The regulations in force provide that meetings are necessarily held in the building, and they do not establish any general electronic voting mechanism. Some buildings organise remote participation in practice; that is a matter for their own organisation and rules, not a right you can demand. Legislative Decree 1568 will expressly allow virtual meetings once in force, but that is not yet the case.
Paying. Set up a reliable, documented payment method and keep the receipts. An unintentional three-charge arrears is enough to deprive you of your vote at the moment an important decision is taken.
Keeping the resolutions. Ask for a copy of the minutes as a matter of course and file them. They are your record of what was resolved, and what you will pass on in turn on the day you sell.
Following the works. Someone has to be able to see on site how the works you voted and paid for are progressing. That local relay role is exactly the one described in our guide to buying an apartment in Lima without travelling to Peru.
A worked example comparing two properties
The example that follows is entirely hypothetical. It describes no real property, is not a market average and predicts nothing. It serves only to show how a difference in charges compares with a difference in price.
Two comparable apartments, same district, similar size, both intended as rental investments.
| Assumptions | Property A | Property B |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase price | USD 145,000 | USD 138,000 |
| Number of units in the building | 40 | 24 |
| Monthly charges | S/ 380 | S/ 620 |
| Services included | 24 h concierge, one lift, common water | 24 h concierge, two lifts, common water, pool, gym |
| Extraordinary expenditure identified | None approved | Roof waterproofing approved: S/ 3,200 per unit |
| Charges over 10 years | S/ 45,600 | S/ 74,400 |
| Capital call | S/ 0 | S/ 3,200 |
| Total condominium over 10 years | S/ 45,600 | S/ 77,600 |
| Dollar equivalent | USD 13,531 | USD 23,026 |
| Purchase price + condominium over 10 years | USD 158,531 | USD 161,026 |
The arithmetic is deliberately simple and checkable. For A: S/ 380 × 12 × 10 = S/ 45,600. For B: S/ 620 × 12 × 10 = S/ 74,400, plus S/ 3,200 of capital call, so S/ 77,600. The conversion uses a rate of S/ 3.37 to 1 USD, the banking system rate published by the SBS and carried by the BCRP for 10 September 2026.
The result is worth pausing on. Property B is advertised USD 7,000 cheaper, which is the argument that decides many buyers. Over ten years, the difference in charges and the capital call nonetheless amount to USD 9,495 more. The apparently cheaper property therefore costs, over that period, about USD 2,500 more than the other.
Four caveats, because this calculation does not say everything. It ignores the increase in charges over time, which is not nil. It ignores the time value of money. It puts no value on B's additional facilities, which have real utility and may support the rent or the resale appeal. And it assumes B's capital call is the only one to come, which nothing guarantees for either property.
In a letting, who pays what? As seen above, the tenant may take on the monthly charge where the lease so provides, the owner remaining jointly liable to the association. Extraordinary expenditure, by contrast, stays in practice with the owner, absent a contrary clause. In other words, on this example, the S/ 240 monthly gap can be neutralised by the lease, while the S/ 3,200 of waterproofing probably will not be. One more reason to read the minutes before signing, not after.
The documents to ask for before signing
The table below distinguishes what is a legal obligation, a rule specific to the building and a plain recommendation to verify. In Peru there is no equivalent of the condominium file a seller must hand over in France: most of these documents are obtained because you ask for them, not because you can require them.
| Document or information | What it lets you check | Who to ask | Point to watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registered internal rules and their amendments | Permitted uses, common assets, participation percentages, voting rules | SUNARP, seller, administrator | Insist on the registered, up-to-date version, not a draft or an extract; check for later amendments |
| Partida registral of the unit and of the parent property | What you are buying, parking and storage included or not, charges and mortgages, association registered | SUNARP, registry publicity service | Registry information is current only to the day it is issued; take it again just before signing |
| Minutes of meetings for the last 2 to 3 years | Works approved and contemplated, disputes, changes to the rules, level of participation | Administrator, president | Ask for the complete series: a selection of minutes says nothing about what is missing |
| Annual budget and accounts for recent years | Structure of spending, gap between forecast and actual, cash position | Administrator | The budget is a document the administrator must produce; the actual accounts are more instructive than the forecast |
| Charge statements for the unit over 12 to 24 months | Real amount, seasonality, adjustments, extraordinary calls | Seller, administrator | Compare with the figure in the listing; be wary of a single statement presented as representative |
| Confirmation of amounts due on the unit (constancia de no adeudo) | The seller's standing with the condominium | Administrator or president | Common practice with no discharging effect defined by law: ask for it dated, signed, with the unit and the period covered |
| Overall arrears position of the building | The condominium's real capacity to fund its upkeep | Administrator | Ask for a total and an ageing, without requiring personal data on other owners |
| Approved works and the schedule of capital calls | What you will have to pay after the purchase | Administrator, minutes | A call approved before the sale but issued afterwards must be settled contractually |
| Maintenance contracts and technical reports | Lifts, pumps, fire safety, condition of the networks | Administrator | Check contract end dates and whether a history of works exists |
| The building's insurance policy, if it has one | Cover of the common assets and liability | Administrator | No legal insurance obligation under the current regime: its absence is not an irregularity, but it is information |
| Identity and powers of the president and administrator | Who can validly bind the condominium | SUNARP, administrator | Compare the name given orally with the one on the register |
Organising these checks from Switzerland
Most of these documents cannot be obtained online: they are requested from the administrator, collected at the registry and cross-checked against each other. That is part of what we coordinate for our clients, with Adriana, a certified real estate agent in Peru, who goes on site, meets the building's management and assembles the file. We are neither a managing agent, nor a law firm, nor a technical surveying practice: where a point calls for a legal analysis or a building diagnosis, we put you in touch with the right professional and coordinate their work.
Checklist before buying
What you are buying
- Parking, storage and terrace identified in the partida, the internal rules and the plans, not merely observed on site.
- The unit's participation percentage noted, in the common assets as well as in the charges.
Governance
- Junta de propietarios registered or not, and the president's identity checked against the register.
- Administrator identified, with their contract, their fees and how they report.
Money
- Annual budget, two years of accounts and 12 to 24 months of charge statements obtained and read.
- Cash position, total arrears and debts to suppliers known.
- Monthly charge set against the services actually provided and the number of units.
- Seller's position confirmed in writing, and the sharing of charges settled in the contract.
Works
- Minutes of the last 2 to 3 years read, works approved and contemplated listed.
- Lifts, waterproofing, networks, pumps and fire safety placed in their life cycle.
- A technical professional's opinion sought if structure, waterproofing or safety are involved.
Fit with your plans
- The unit's permitted use under the internal rules compatible with your plans, short-term letting included.
- Rules on works, noise, pets, visitors and removals known.
- Address for service given to the administration in writing and the acknowledgement kept.
Frequently asked questions
Which law governs condominiums in Peru today?
Title III of Law 27157 and its regulations, the consolidated text approved by Supreme Decree 035-2006-VIVIENDA. Legislative Decree 1568, published on 28 May 2023, creates a new horizontal property regime and repeals that Title III, but it only enters into force one hundred and eighty calendar days after the publication of its implementing regulations, which had not happened by the end of August 2026. The new regime is therefore not applicable at the time of writing.
Are charges shared in proportion to floor area?
Not necessarily, and this is an important difference from what many European buyers expect. Payment of the common charges is made according to the percentages set in the building's internal rules, taking into account criteria such as use, occupied space, demand for services, the number of occupants or the location of the units. The text specifies that those percentages are not necessarily equal to those of participation in the common assets. The applicable key is therefore the one in your internal rules, not a general rule.
Do I have to pay the charges if the apartment stays empty?
Yes. The regulations to Law 27157 expressly provide that the fact that a unit is or remains unoccupied, whatever the length of the vacancy, does not exempt its owner from paying the charges, unless otherwise agreed. That reservation points to the internal rules or a resolution, which may provide otherwise, but the principle is indeed payment.
Will I inherit the seller's arrears?
We found, in the regime in force, no provision automatically transferring to the new buyer the charge debt left by the seller, nor any mechanism registering that debt against the unit. We will therefore not assert it in either direction: the text does not organise such a transfer, and the question is settled in practice by checking beforehand and by a clause in the contract, to be drafted by a Peruvian lawyer in the light of the internal rules concerned. Note that Legislative Decree 1568 provides, for the future, for a carga to be registered against the unit's partida where charges go unpaid.
Does a constancia de no adeudo really protect me?
Partly. It is a common and useful practice, but we found no provision of the regime in force that defines it, requires it to be issued, or attaches a discharging effect to it. It is worth what the information of the person signing it is worth, on the date they sign it, and it covers neither later adjustments nor a capital call approved but not yet issued. Ask for it dated and signed, identifying its author, the unit and the period covered, and complete it with the charge statements.
Are low charges a good sign?
Not in themselves. A low charge can reflect efficient management in a building without expensive facilities, but also deferred maintenance, or a level of arrears forcing the building to operate below its needs. In the latter two cases the expense has not disappeared: it will return as a capital call. The converse also holds, high charges do not prove good management. The only way to tell is to set the charge against the services actually provided and the visible state of the building.
Can the internal rules forbid short-term letting?
They can restrict it: the law provides that units may be put to any use permitted by the rules in force, save for the limitations set out in the internal rules. Several Lima municipalities have also regulated the practice. Beware of one frequent shortcut, though: silence in the rules is not a reliable authorisation, and a general meeting may amend them later. The subject is covered in detail in our guide to Airbnb in Lima.
Can I vote remotely from Europe?
Not as of right. The regulations in force provide that meetings are necessarily held in the building and establish no general electronic voting mechanism. Some buildings organise remote participation in practice, but that is a matter for their own arrangements. You can, however, be represented: the mandate must be in writing and special for each meeting, unless it is a power granted by notarial deed. A notarised power of attorney is therefore not systematically necessary, even if it saves redoing a mandate for every meeting.
Is insuring the building compulsory?
The regime in force does not require the condominium to insure the building. Some do so by resolution of the association or by a clause in their internal rules, others do not. The absence of insurance is therefore not an irregularity, but it is information that counts in assessing the condominium's exposure, and it deserves to be asked about explicitly rather than assumed.
What happens if I do not pay my charges?
Two consequences are provided for. First, unpaid receipts for ordinary or extraordinary charges are enforceable instruments on which enforcement proceedings can be brought, and where payment is three consecutive months late the president of the association may use that route without prior conciliation. Second, an owner three ordinary charges or one extraordinary charge in arrears at the time of convocation is declared inhabilitado: they may attend meetings with a voice, but they do not vote, are not counted towards the quorum and cannot challenge resolutions, until they regularise.
What else should I check in a new building?
Who administers during the transition and until when, on what assumptions the announced charges were calculated, in particular what occupancy rate was used, which facilities are already in service and which will push the charge up as they come into use, and which documents already exist: registered internal rules, first budget, signed contracts, progress of the registry formalities. A commercial estimate produced before handover is a forecast, not an observed running cost.
Sources
- Ley N° 27157, Ley de Regularización de Edificaciones, del Procedimiento para la Declaratoria de Fábrica y del Régimen de Unidades Inmobiliarias de Propiedad Exclusiva y de Propiedad Común, Title III. Articles consulted: 37 to 50, in particular article 39 on the internal rules, article 42 on their mandatory content, article 47 on the constitution of the junta, article 48 on the president, article 49 on hábiles and inhabilitados owners and article 50 on the enforceable character of unpaid receipts. gob.pe (accessed 14 September 2026)
- Decreto Supremo N° 035-2006-VIVIENDA, consolidated text of the regulations to Law 27157. Articles consulted: 129 to 157, in particular article 130 on participation percentages, article 131 on permitted uses, article 133 on works within a unit, article 134 on non-transferable common assets and on parking spaces required by the planning regulations, articles 135 and 136 on acts of disposal and on works in the common parts, article 137 on mandatory common services, article 138 on common charges and how they are shared, article 141 j) on the tenant and the owner's joint liability, article 143 on disqualification, article 144 on unoccupied units, article 146 on convocation and the place of meetings, article 147 on representation, article 148 on the qualified majority, articles 151 and 152 on the general administrator and their duties, article 153 on the content of the internal rules, article 156 on prior conciliation and article 157 on enforcement proceedings. gob.pe (accessed 14 September 2026)
- Decreto Legislativo N° 1568, Decreto Legislativo del Régimen de la Propiedad Horizontal, published in the official gazette El Peruano on 28 May 2023. Consulted for the First final complementary provision (entry into force one hundred and eighty calendar days after publication of its regulations), the single repealing provision (repeal of article 13, Title III and the Third final provision of Law 27157 from that entry into force), the Third final complementary provision (creation of the register of charge debtors and of the register of administrators), article 25 (in-person or virtual meetings) and article 30 (registration of a carga and enforceable instruments). busquedas.elperuano.pe (accessed 14 September 2026)
- SUNARP, Subdirección de Capacitación Registral, Junta de propietarios: documents required for registration (notary-certified copy of the minutes of election, certificate of convocation with notarised signature, sworn declaration that all owners were convened), registry fees and applicable rules, including article 149 of Supreme Decree 035-2006-VIVIENDA and article 87 of the Reglamento de Inscripciones del Registro de Predios (Resolution 097-2013-SUNARP/SN). scr.sunarp.gob.pe (accessed 14 September 2026)
- SUNARP and the Peruvian State platform, Solicitar certificado literal de partida a Sunarp: obtaining a property's registry information online. gob.pe (accessed 14 September 2026)
- El Comercio, "Nuevas reglas de convivencia en edificios", article of 17 August 2026 updated on 21 August 2026: the 29 July 2026 decision of the Ninth Constitutional Court ordering the executive to approve and publish the regulations to Legislative Decree 1568 within thirty working days; SUNARP figures of 1,899 juntas de propietarios registered between January 2025 and August 2026, 448 of them in Lima; the 2019 estimate by the Sociedad Peruana de Bienes Raíces that 95 % of buildings in the capital had no registered junta; and the state of progress of the debtors' register at the SBS. elcomercio.pe (accessed 14 September 2026)
- Banco Central de Reserva del Perú, daily statistical series PD04640PD, TC Sistema bancario SBS (S/ por US$), venta: S/ 3.373 to 1 USD on 10 September 2026, the latest value published at the time of writing. Rounded to 3.37 in the worked example. estadisticas.bcrp.gob.pe (accessed 14 September 2026)
Limits of this verification. The state of the law described here is that of 14 September 2026. The implementing regulations to Legislative Decree 1568 had not been published at the end of August 2026; we were unable to confirm from an official source what the position was in the very last days before this guide was published, and we found no official consolidated text accessible online at the time of writing. That does not change the conclusion: even immediate publication of the regulations would leave one hundred and eighty calendar days to run before the new regime takes effect. Two points rest on an absence of provision rather than on an express rule: we found in the regime in force neither a provision automatically transferring the seller's charge debt to the buyer, nor a legal basis defining the constancia de no adeudo or attaching a discharging effect to it. Those two points, like the scope of any particular clause in a set of internal rules, must be confirmed by a Peruvian lawyer in the light of the file concerned. This guide is for information only and does not constitute legal advice.