When can a lease in Peru be terminated for unpaid rent, and how do you hand the property back?

What the lease requires, even if it doesn’t say so

Article 1681 of the Civil Code lists the tenant’s duties. Three matter here:

“A pagar puntualmente la renta en el plazo y lugar convenidos y, a falta de convenio, cada mes, en su domicilio. […] A pagar puntualmente los servicios públicos suministrados en beneficio del bien, con sujeción a las normas que los regulan. […] A devolver el bien al arrendador al vencerse el plazo del contrato en el estado en que lo recibió, sin más deterioro que el de su uso ordinario.”

(Pay rent on time, at the agreed time and place, and monthly if nothing was agreed; pay the utilities on time; and return the property at the end in the condition you received it, apart from ordinary wear.)

The grounds for termination

Peruvian law calls ending a contract for breach resolución. Article 1697 lists when a lease can be terminated:

“El contrato de arrendamiento puede resolverse: 1.- Si el arrendatario no ha pagado la renta del mes anterior y se vence otro mes y además quince días. Si la renta se pacta por períodos mayores, basta el vencimiento de un solo período y además quince días. Si el alquiler se conviene por períodos menores a un mes, basta que venzan tres períodos. […] 3.- Si el arrendatario da al bien destino diferente de aquél para el que se le concedió expresa o tácitamente, o permite algún acto contrario al orden público o a las buenas costumbres. 4.- Por subarrendar o ceder el arrendamiento contra pacto expreso, o sin asentimiento escrito del arrendador. 5.- Si el arrendador o el arrendatario no cumplen cualesquiera de sus obligaciones.”

(The lease can be terminated: 1. if the previous month’s rent is unpaid and another month plus fifteen days goes by; for longer rent periods, one period plus fifteen days; for periods shorter than a month, three periods. 3. if the tenant uses the property for a different purpose, or allows acts against public order or morals. 4. for subletting or assigning the lease against an express agreement or without the landlord’s written consent. 5. if the landlord or the tenant fails to meet any of their obligations.)

With monthly rent:

Item 2, left out above, covers a tenant who already needed a court judgment to pay and falls more than fifteen days behind again.

Note item 5: it says landlord or tenant. If the landlord fails to meet their duties, you can use this ground too.

The contract and the special-law floor

Article 1698 adds:

“La resolución por falta de pago de la renta se sujeta a lo pactado, pero en ningún caso procede, tratándose de casas-habitación comprendidas en leyes especiales, si no se han cumplido por lo menos dos mensualidades y quince días.”

(Termination for unpaid rent follows what the parties agreed, but for dwellings covered by special laws it never applies before at least two monthly payments and fifteen days are owed.)

So your contract can set its own rule, with that floor for dwellings covered by special laws. We did not verify which homes those special laws cover today.

How termination happens: it is not automatic

A ground existing does not end the contract by itself. Our reading is that the Civil Code’s general termination rules apply to leases, and they offer three routes:

1. Ask a judge. Article 1428 lets the injured party seek «el cumplimiento o la resolución del contrato» (performance or termination) plus damages. From service of the termination lawsuit, the defendant «queda impedida de cumplir su prestación» (can no longer perform): paying late no longer stops the case.
2. Notarial letter with a deadline. Article 1429 lets the injured party demand payment by notarial letter «dentro de un plazo no menor de quince días» (within no less than fifteen days), or the contract is terminated. If you do not pay in time, «el contrato se resuelve de pleno derecho» (it ends by operation of law).
3. Express termination clause. Article 1430 says:

“Puede convenirse expresamente que el contrato se resuelva cuando una de las partes no cumple determinada prestación a su cargo, establecida con toda precisión. La resolución se produce de pleno derecho cuando la parte interesada comunica a la otra que quiere valerse de la cláusula resolutoria.”

(The parties can agree that the contract ends if one of them fails to perform a specific obligation, set out with full precision. Termination happens when the interested party tells the other it is invoking the clause.)

Two points. The obligation must be precise: “failing to pay two months’ rent ends the contract” is precise; we think “any breach” is more open to challenge. And the clause does not work on its own: the landlord has to tell you it is using it.

Default (mora)

Article 1333 sets when you are in default:

“Incurre en mora el obligado desde que el acreedor le exija, judicial o extrajudicialmente, el cumplimiento de su obligación. No es necesaria la intimación para que la mora exista: 1.- Cuando la ley o el pacto lo declaren expresamente.”

(You are in default from when the creditor demands performance, in or out of court. No demand is needed when the law or the contract expressly says so.)

As a rule, default starts when the landlord demands payment. If your contract expressly makes default automatic, it starts without that demand. This page does not calculate late-payment interest.

When the lease ends and you don’t hand the property back

Article 1704 is the one that costs the most:

“Vencido el plazo del contrato o cursado el aviso de conclusión del arrendamiento, si el arrendatario no restituye el bien, el arrendador tiene derecho a exigir su devolución y a cobrar la penalidad convenida o, en su defecto, una prestación igual a la renta del período precedente, hasta su devolución efectiva. El cobro de cualquiera de ellas no importará la continuación del arrendamiento.”

(Once the term expires or notice of conclusion is given, if the tenant does not return the property, the landlord can demand it back and charge the agreed penalty or, failing that, a payment equal to the previous period’s rent until it is returned. Collecting either does not continue the lease.)

The article speaks of an expired term or a notice of conclusion; it does not mention termination for unpaid rent. If the landlord wants the property back after terminating, the route is eviction, covered in eviction and renting in Peru and expedited eviction.

If you want to leave early

Article 1699 says a fixed-term lease «concluye al vencimiento del plazo establecido por las partes» (ends when the agreed term expires), with no notice needed. We found no article in the lease chapter that lets you end a fixed-term lease early just by giving notice. Your real options:

• Your contract. If it has an early-exit clause, follow what it requires.
• Optional periods. If the lease has fixed and optional periods, notice not to continue must be given, for real estate, «con no menos de dos meses de anticipación» (at least two months before) the end of the period (article 1701; article 1702 applies the same notice when periods are optional for both sides).
• No fixed term. Article 1703: «Se pone fin a un arrendamiento de duración indeterminada dando aviso judicial o extrajudicial al otro contratante» (a lease with no fixed term ends with judicial or extrajudicial notice).
• Landlord in breach. Article 1697.5 lets you seek termination.
• Agreement with the landlord. If you both want to end it, put it in writing.

If you leave early with none of these, the landlord can bring a claim. Article 1428 mentions damages; how much depends on the case and this page does not calculate it.

Moving out voluntarily and the handover report

We did not find “desocupación voluntaria” (voluntary move-out) defined in the Civil Code. It describes something simple: you leave on your own and hand back possession without a court order.

The acta de entrega (handover report) is not a legal requirement for an ordinary lease either. But it is your best evidence that you met article 1681.10: returning the property «en el estado en que lo recibió, sin más deterioro que el de su uso ordinario» (in the condition received, apart from ordinary wear). A useful report includes:

• Date and time of the handover, signed by both of you.
• Condition of each room, with dated photos.
• Number of keys, remotes and access cards returned.
• Electricity, water and gas meter readings.
• Any debts both sides acknowledge, or a note that there are none.

If the landlord won’t take the property back

Articles 1706 and 1707 cover a common problem:

“En todo caso de conclusión del arrendamiento o teniendo el arrendatario derecho para resolverlo, si pone el bien a disposición del arrendador y éste no puede o no quiere recibirlo, aquél podrá consignarlo. […] Desde el día en que el arrendatario efectúe la consignación se extingue su responsabilidad por la renta, salvo que la impugnación a la consignación fuese declarada fundada.”

(Whenever the lease has ended, or the tenant has a right to terminate it, if the tenant makes the property available and the landlord cannot or will not take it, the tenant can consign it. From the day of consignment, the tenant’s liability for rent ends, unless a challenge to the consignment succeeds.)

Offer the property in writing first, ideally by notarial letter. If the landlord refuses, consignment stops the rent from that day. We do not cover the consignment procedure here.

The deposit is a separate question: see rental deposit return in Peru.

What this page does not cover

We do not cover the court eviction process or notarial eviction (see the linked guides), the consignment procedure under the Código Procesal Civil, or how to calculate late-payment interest or damages. We do not cover the grounds specific to leases on the Formulario Único de Arrendamiento under Legislative Decree 1177. We did not review court decisions on termination clauses in leases. For subletting, see subletting in Peru; for the death of a tenant or landlord, what happens to the lease when someone dies.