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

VIII. Significant Achievements of the Registro Predial System

Having described how the Registro Predial system and related institutions function, this section will outline the significant advantages and achievements of both the ILD campaign to create the Registro Predial and the Registro Predial system itself.

A. Simplification of Registration System

One of the most significant achievements of this system is the simplification of the registration procedures and the removal of unnecessary and unwieldy bureaucratic requirements. It is no easy task to implant a whole new registration process which challenges the role of those who hold a monopoly in the old system. McLaughlin and de Soto (1994: 312) state that more than 174 property laws and approximately 2,000 other laws were reformed to provide the legal framework for the Registro Predial.

There is no doubt that the Registro Predial functions more efficiently than the Registro de Propiedad Inmueble. Generally, the opinion of both officials and users was that most transactions are processed in less than one week. This has been made possible by the streamlining of requirements and the simplification of procedures as well as through the computerization of the data. It is important to realize that the benefits of the Registro Predial cannot be achieved through simple computerization. Computerization of an inefficient and ineffective system may lead to short-term efficiency gains, but will ultimately lead to failure.

The opening up of the validation process to lawyers in addition to notaries has removed a costly monopoly which acted as a disincentive against registering property. The role of the notary, as a public officer, is to provide public approval of private contracts (such as title documents) prior to registration in the Registro de Propiedad Inmueble. It was estimated that until several years ago, there were less than 50 appointed notaries in Metropolitan Lima. The resulting document is often a public deed (escritura pública) which is registrable. The Registro Predial specifically avoids the requirement of a notarized deed, which can be extremely lengthy and which uses legal jargon unfamiliar to the lay person. Instead it makes use of standardized registry forms which require the certification of either a lawyer or a notary.