Spanish, then English

Glossary

The words that show up in a purchase, in the language they are actually used. This is a phrase book, not a legal dictionary.

Abogado
A lawyer. Yours should be independent of the seller and independent of me. I am not one.
Alcabala
The property transfer tax, commonly described as 3% of the price above an exempt amount. The exemption changes and is often tied to the UIT. Confirm the current figure. The buyer usually pays it.
ANA
Autoridad Nacional del Agua, the national water authority. Rural ditches and water rights often lead here. A hose in a field is not the same as a right.
Apostilla
An apostille: the certificate that makes certain foreign public documents usable in Peru. One way a power of attorney signed abroad gets recognized. A consulate is the other common path. Your lawyer says which you need.
Arbitrios
Municipal service charges, separate from property tax. Trash, parks, local security, and similar. They are billed locally and they can be unpaid by a seller.
Arras
Earnest money under a promise to buy. What you lose if you walk away, and what happens if the title fails, has to be written. A transfer in a chat is not arras.
Autoconstrucción
A building put up without a formal engineer’s project. Common, and a different seismic and wiring risk from engineered work. I can see the signs. An engineer judges them.
Autoavalúo
The municipality’s valuation of a property, used in calculating predial. It is not the same number as the price you negotiated.
Bancarización
The rule that payments above a threshold should go through the banking system. The threshold is set in UIT and changes. The bank trail is how you prove the price later.
Carné de extranjería
The ID card for a foreigner with resident status. Buying a house does not issue one. Banks and notaries treat it differently from a tourist passport.
Certificado de gravámenes
A SUNARP certificate of burdens on a property: mortgages, embargoes, and other claims. Read a fresh one close to signing.
Certificado literal
A certified copy of the current registry entry: the description of the property, the registered owner, and the annotations on that file.
Cisterna
A ground-level or buried water tank. Many houses store water because network pressure is not continuous.
COFOPRI
The state body associated with formalizing informal property, especially urban. A path toward title, not a shortcut, and not a sure thing.
Comunidad campesina
A rural peasant community that holds land collectively. An individual who offers you a piece may not have the right to sell it. Often the wrong purchase if you want a clean private title.
Comunidad nativa
An indigenous community, often in the Amazon, holding land collectively. The same caution as comunidad campesina, with its own legal regime. Do not treat a handshake as a subdivision.
Conformidad de obra
The municipality’s confirmation that finished construction matches the license. Missing paperwork means the building you see may not be the building the city recognizes.
Constancia de posesión
A document saying someone possesses a property. Common in rural and jungle areas. It is not a registered title.
Copropietario
A co-owner. All of them generally have to sign a sale unless one has real authority to sign for the rest.
Declaratoria de fábrica
Registration of the building on the title. Without it, you may own registered land and an unregistered house.
Discoteca
A nightclub. A classic reason a Saturday noon visit lies about noise.
El Niño
A Pacific climate cycle that can bring severe flooding to Peru’s north coast. Not every year. A dry visit does not retire the risk.
Escritura pública
The public deed signed before a notary. It is the formal sale document. It still has to be registered at SUNARP.
Garúa
Lima’s gray coastal drizzle and overcast winter, roughly May through October. Little real rain, plenty of damp.
Gravamen
A burden on the title: a mortgage, an embargo, or another registered claim. The certificado de gravámenes is the list.
Guardián
A caretaker who watches a property. Oversight of that relationship is something I can do. It is not a property-management company.
Habilitación urbana
The formal process of turning land into an urban subdivision with approved lots and services. A painted street is not always a habilitación.
Hipoteca
A mortgage registered on the property. It should be cancelled or otherwise dealt with before you think you own clear title.
Huaico
A debris flow: mud, rock, and water down a ravine, typical of Andean rainy seasons. A dry quebrada in July can be a huaico path in February.
Independización
Splitting one registered property into separate titles. Until it is done, you may be buying a share of a larger file, not the lot you walked.
Licencia de construcción
The municipal building permit. Building first and asking later is common and can freeze a later sale.
Maestro de obra
The site foreman who runs day-to-day construction. Essential, and not a substitute for an engineer or architect on a real project.
Minuta
The contract drafted, usually by a lawyer, for the notary to turn into the escritura pública. This is where names, price, and conditions should be exact.
Mototaxi
A motorcycle taxi. In many towns it is the transport system and the sound of the street.
Notario
A notary public. In Peru the notary formalizes the deed. The notary is not your advocate. Your abogado is.
Parámetros urbanísticos
The municipal rules for a lot: land use, height, setbacks, and similar limits. They decide whether your sketch is legal.
Partida registral
The registry file number of a property at SUNARP. It is how you find the record. It is not, by itself, proof that a particular person standing in the doorway may sell.
Plano
A plan or map of the lot. The physical fences, the plano, and the registry description are three things. They should match.
Poder
A power of attorney. For a remote purchase, limit it to one property and one transaction, with an end date. Consulate or apostille are the usual routes. I am not providing a form.
Posesión
Possession: physical control of a property. It can exist with title, without title, or in conflict with the registered owner.
Predial
Impuesto predial, the annual municipal property tax. Unpaid years belong in the negotiation, not in your first surprise bill.
Prescripción adquisitiva
A legal path to title based on long, qualifying possession. It takes time and money and it can fail. Not a DIY project and not a selling point I will dress up.
Quebrada
A ravine. Pretty when dry. The place huaicos use when it rains.
Rentista
A residence category associated with qualifying pension or income. It is not granted by a property purchase. An immigration lawyer says whether you fit.
Se vende
“For sale,” often painted on a wall with a phone number. A lead, not a contract.
Separación de patrimonios
A marital regime in which property is held separately, unlike the default community regime. Which regime applies changes who must sign. The lawyer checks it.
Servidumbre
An easement: a registered right to cross land or to run water across it. Access that is only a neighbor’s kindness is not this.
Sociedad conyugal
The community-property side of a marriage, often discussed as sociedad de gananciales. Both spouses usually must sign to sell. A missing spouse is a broken sale.
Sol
The Peruvian currency (PEN). Prices are agreed in soles or dollars. Write down which, and which exchange rate, if a conversion is involved. This site’s calculator does not convert.
Sucesión intestada
An intestate succession: the owner died without a will the process is following, or the estate is being opened that way. All heirs have to be in it. One relative cannot sell the family’s property alone.
SUNARP
The national public registry. Where title, mortgages, and many other rights are recorded. If it is not here, a later buyer may not have to care what a private paper says.
SUNAT
The national tax authority. Not the land registry. Predial is municipal. Seller’s income tax and bancarización questions live nearer SUNAT. Do not mix the two offices up.
Tanque elevado
An elevated tank, often on the roof, that gives a house pressure. Pair it in your mind with the cisterna.
Testimonio
The notary’s official copy of the escritura. You will be asked for it when you move utilities or register. It is still not a substitute for the SUNARP entry.
Topógrafo
A surveyor. The person you want when the fence, the plano, and the registry disagree.
UIT
Unidad Impositiva Tributaria, a tax unit the state resets. Alcabala exemptions and bancarización thresholds are often expressed as a number of UIT. Look up the current UIT rather than trusting an old blog.
Usucapión
Another way people refer to gaining ownership through long possession. In practice, read prescripción adquisitiva and talk to a lawyer. I am not offering a how-to.
Zona de frontera
The border zone. Foreigners generally cannot own property within 50 km of Peru’s borders without special authorization. Measure the coordinates. Do not guess from a town name.

Home-country words that are not Peruvian

FBAR and FATCA are United States reporting regimes for foreign accounts. They are not Peruvian taxes. Thresholds change. A cross-border accountant is the person who says what you file. Rental income can be reportable at home as well as in Peru.