Hidden defects in a Peru property sale: what you can claim

What this protection covers: the seller’s warranty against hidden defects

When you buy real estate in Peru, the seller isn’t only obligated to transfer ownership to you — they’re also on the hook if the property has defects you couldn’t have known about when you bought it. Article 1485 of the Civil Code calls this saneamiento (a warranty obligation), and states that the transferor must answer to the buyer “por la evicción, por los vicios ocultos del bien o por sus hechos propios, que no permitan destinar el bien transferido a la finalidad para la cual fue adquirido o que disminuyan su valor” (for eviction, hidden defects, or their own acts that keep the property from serving the purpose it was bought for, or that reduce its value). Article 1503 narrows this to the case that matters here: “El transferente está obligado al saneamiento por los vicios ocultos existentes al momento de la transferencia” (the seller is obligated to warrant against hidden defects that existed at the time of transfer).

What counts as a hidden defect (and what doesn’t)

Not every problem you discover after moving in qualifies. Article 1504 is clear: “No se consideran vicios ocultos los que el adquirente pueda conocer actuando con la diligencia exigible de acuerdo con su aptitud personal y con las circunstancias” (defects the buyer could have detected by exercising the diligence expected given their personal skill and the circumstances are not considered hidden). If something was visible or reasonably detectable during a normal walkthrough, it doesn’t count as hidden.

What does qualify, among other cases:

• Physical defects that already existed at the time of transfer and weren’t detectable with normal diligence.
• Missing promised qualities: Article 1505 grants a warranty claim when the property “carece de las cualidades prometidas por el transferente que le daban valor o lo hacían apto para la finalidad de la adquisición” (lacks the qualities the seller promised that gave it value or made it fit for the purpose it was bought for) — for example, if you were assured the property had certain zoning or a feature that turned out to be false.
• Hidden charges, liens or encumbrances: Article 1509 also protects you against an undisclosed mortgage, attachment, or easement, as long as it’s “de tanta importancia que disminuyen el valor del bien, lo hacen inútil para la finalidad de su adquisición o reducen sus cualidades para ese efecto” (significant enough to reduce the property’s value, make it useless for its purpose, or reduce its qualities for that purpose).

The two paths if you find a hidden defect

The Civil Code gives you two remedies against the seller, and they aren’t combinable for the same defect:

1. The redhibitory action (Article 1511): ask for the contract to be voided. This makes sense when the defect is serious enough that the property no longer serves the purpose you bought it for.
2. The price-reduction action (Article 1513): ask to be paid what the property is worth less because of the defect — in other words, a price cut. The law frames this as something the buyer can “optar por pedir” (choose to ask for) instead of voiding the contract — it makes sense if you’d rather keep the property despite the defect.

You can add damages to either path, under Article 1512, item 5, if the seller “incurrió en dolo o culpa respecto de la existencia de los vicios” (acted with intent or negligence regarding the existence of the defects) — that is, if they knew (or should have known) about the defect and didn’t tell you.

The deadline is short: 6 months, not the years most people assume

This is where most buyers lose their right without realizing it. Article 1514 is specific: “Las acciones a que se refieren los Artículos 1511° y 1513° caducan a los tres meses si se trata de bienes muebles y a los seis, de inmuebles. Los plazos se computan desde el momento de la recepción del bien” (the actions under Articles 1511 and 1513 expire at three months for movable goods and six for real estate, counted from receiving the good).

For real estate, that means 6 months from when you received it — not from when the contract was signed, not from registration with Sunarp, and well short of the general 10-year period that applies to most other civil claims. Because this is a caducidad (lapse) deadline, letting it pass doesn’t just make the claim harder to bring — the right itself disappears.

If the defect is minor, the seller can offer to fix it first

Article 1515 adds an important nuance: when the defect is minor, the seller can offer to fix it instead of facing a claim outright. But there’s a consequence if you turn that offer down without good reason: “Si la oferta es rechazada por el adquirente, éste puede intentar sólo la acción estimatoria, perdiendo la redhibitoria” (if the buyer rejects the offer, they can only pursue the price-reduction action, losing the right to void the contract).

Can the seller make me waive this protection with a contract clause?

This comes up often, especially when a contract includes phrases like “sold as is” or similar. The Civil Code’s answer is clear, and it favors the buyer: Article 1489 lets the parties “ampliar, restringir o suprimir la obligación de saneamiento” (expand, restrict, or remove the warranty obligation), except for the case in Article 1528. And that article says: “Es nulo el pacto mediante el cual se pretende liberar o limitar la obligación de saneamiento del transferente por un hecho voluntario suyo” (any clause that tries to release or limit the seller’s warranty obligation for their own voluntary act is void).

In other words: a generic clause can’t release the seller from answering for hidden defects that depended on their own conduct. Article 1528 leaves exactly one door open: “puede ser válida, a juicio del juez, la exoneración o limitación del saneamiento por hechos concretos, cuya justificación debe expresarse en el contrato” (a waiver or limitation may be valid, at a judge’s discretion, for specific facts whose justification is spelled out in the contract) — meaning only a judge can validate a specific, justified waiver, never a standard “as is” clause.

This isn’t the same as…

• Eviction (evicción) (Article 1491): this happens when you lose the property, in whole or in part, because a third party had a prior, better right to it — for example, an unresolved earlier ownership claim. It’s a title problem, not a defect in the property itself, and it has its own rules within the same warranty chapter.
• Physical-legal title regularization before a purchase: if what you’re after is understanding how to fix boundaries, construction issues, or title problems on a property before buying it, or to sell it yourself, that’s a different process — see our guide on physical-legal title regularization.
• Earnest money (arras) and when you become the owner: those rules — and what happens if the seller or buyer breaches before handover — are in our guide on how arras work when buying a home.

A topic where precision matters

Every hidden defect is different, and classifying it correctly — hidden or not, minor or serious, with or without bad faith from the seller — changes which remedy makes sense. If the amount at stake is significant, gather the property’s paperwork (the contract, the registry record, photos of its condition at handover) and get legal advice before the 6-month deadline runs out.