Susana Lastarria-Cornhiel, Grenville Barnes (1995):
Assessment of the Praedial Property Registration System in Peru

A. Registro Predial, Urban Poverty, Popular Mortgage and Credit Insurance Law (DL 495)

Legislative Decree 495 (1988) achieved four objectives long pursued by the ILD: it put into property law the concept of possession rights (as opposed to ownership rights), established new procedures for the registration of both ownership and possession rights in the Registro Predial, legalized the concept of a mortgage based on possession rights (hipoteca popular), and authorized insurance companies to grant credit insurance. DL 495 provides the Registro Predial with legal jurisdiction to register property rights in informal (pueblos jóvenes) and formal (urbanizaciones populares) urban, low-income, settlements. In general, informal settlements are regarded as those which require regularization (saneamiento físico legal) and they may be located on municipal, state, or private land (Art. 2).

The following types of rights may be registered in the Registro Predial (DL 495, Art. 8):

a) possession rights to the land and property rights to the buildings;
b) possession rights to vacant land;
c) ownership rights to the land and attached buildings;
d) ownership rights to landholders who have a title registered in the old registry;
e) contracts granting mandatory powers to a bank, the state, a notary, the mayor, or an individual person (Art. 33);
f) acts or contracts affecting registered property rights; and
g) judicial or administrative resolutions relative to registered property rights.

For the purposes of registration in the Registro Predial, title documents include the registry form used to apply for registration together with all the supporting information (Art. 4). This information includes details on the applicant(s), the relevant land parcel, and any conditions, acts or contracts that are registered. The actual registration system is parcel-based (folio real) and automated with access through a personal or parcel index (Art. 6). The Registro Predial does not re-issue a physical title, but registry certificates describing the tenure status and a limited history may be obtained by interested parties.