What if your new home in Peru is smaller than the area you were promised?

First: how was the price set?

The Civil Code has a whole chapter on this, the “compraventa sobre medida” (sale by measure). It separates two ways of selling a property, and your rights depend on which one you have.

What matters is how the price was set, not whether the contract mentions square meters. A contract can state the area and still be a lump-sum sale.

If you paid per square meter

Article 1574 says:

“En la compraventa de un bien con la indicación de su extensión o cabida y por un precio en razón de un tanto por cada unidad de extensión o cabida, el vendedor está obligado a entregar al comprador la cantidad indicada en el contrato. Si ello no fuese posible, el comprador está obligado a pagar lo que se halle de más, y el vendedor a devolver el precio correspondiente a lo que se halle de menos.”

(When a property is sold with its area stated and priced per unit of area, the seller must deliver the stated amount. If that is not possible, the buyer pays for any excess and the seller refunds the price of any shortfall.)

There is no margin here: every missing meter is refunded. And if the gap is large, you can undo the sale. Article 1575 says:

“Si el exceso o falta en la extensión o cabida del bien vendido es mayor que un décimo de la indicada en el contrato, el comprador puede optar por su rescisión.”

(If the excess or shortfall is more than one tenth of the area in the contract, the buyer may choose to rescind.)

If the seller cannot refund the difference at once, article 1576 applies the same rule as for a buyer who owes for an excess: a period of “no menor de treinta días” (no less than thirty days), and if the seller does not grant it, a judge sets it.

If you paid one price for the whole

Article 1577 covers the lump-sum (ad corpus) sale:

“Si el bien se vende fijando precio por el todo y no con arreglo a su extensión o cabida, aun cuando ésta se indique en el contrato, el comprador debe pagar la totalidad del precio a pesar de que se compruebe que la extensión o cabida real es diferente. Sin embargo, si se indicó en el contrato la extensión o cabida, y la real difiere de la señalada en más de una décima parte, el precio sufrirá la reducción o el aumento proporcional.”

(If the property is sold for one price for the whole, the buyer pays the full price even if the real area turns out different, even when the contract states the area. But if the contract states the area and the real one differs by more than one tenth, the price is reduced or increased proportionally.)

Two conditions for a reduction on this route: the contract states the area, and the gap exceeds one tenth. If the gap is smaller, the Civil Code gives you no reduction.

Article 1577 says nothing about rescinding the sale. We found no rule saying whether the rescission in article 1575 also applies to a lump-sum sale.

The deadline: six months from receiving the home

This is the point that costs people the most. Article 1579 says:

“El derecho del vendedor al aumento del precio y el del comprador a su disminución, así como el derecho de este último de pedir la rescisión del contrato, caducan a los seis meses de la recepción del bien por el comprador.”

(The seller’s right to a price increase, and the buyer’s rights to a price reduction or to rescission, expire six months after the buyer receives the property.)

This is an expiry period (caducidad), and three rules in the same Code make that serious:

• Caducidad “extingue el derecho y la acción correspondiente” (ends the right and the claim) (article 2003). Once the period is over, there is nothing left to claim on this route.
• Expiry periods “los fija la ley, sin admitir pacto contrario” (are set by law, with no agreement to the contrary) (article 2004). The contract cannot shorten it.
• Caducidad “no admite interrupción ni suspensión” (cannot be interrupted or paused), with one narrow exception (article 2005). Sending a letter does not stop the clock.

The period runs from receipt, meaning handover. Measure the home as soon as you get it.

If you bought from a developer: consumer law

If the seller is a real-estate business, Ley 29571 also protects you. It treats the area as mandatory information at three moments.

Before you sign. Article 77.2 requires the developer to give you, in advance and free of charge, the “plano del inmueble ofertado, precisando qué aspectos tienen carácter referencial, de ser el caso” (the floor plan, specifying which parts are only indicative, if any), and the home’s features, including the “área del inmueble” (area of the home). If the plan was only indicative, they had to tell you which parts.

In the contract. Article 78.1 requires the contract to include at least the “área exclusiva y común, de ser el caso, medidas perimétricas, acabados del inmueble” (private and common area, boundary measurements, finishes).

On handover. Article 79 gives you the right to record your objection in writing. For an off-plan home, over “desperfectos, deficiencias u otras condiciones que desmejoren el valor del inmueble que se le entrega, o que impidan o limiten su uso” (defects or conditions that lower the home’s value or limit its use). It adds:

“De presentarse alguna de estas situaciones, el consumidor puede exigir, a través de los mecanismos legales pertinentes, la reparación, la reducción del precio o la resolución o rescisión del contrato, según corresponda.”

(In any of these situations, the consumer can demand repair, a price reduction, or termination or rescission of the contract, as appropriate.)

Indecopi’s guide on real-estate products uses this exact case as an example of a physical defect the seller must fix: “el departamento cuenta con un metraje menor al ofrecido” (the apartment is smaller than offered).

Behind all of this is the duty of suitability (idoneidad). Article 18 defines it as the match between what you expect and what you receive “en función a lo que se le hubiera ofrecido, la publicidad e información transmitida” (based on what you were offered and the advertising and information given). Article 19 makes the business answer for suitability and for any mismatch between its advertising and what it delivers.

Two things consumer law does not say. It sets no area tolerance: we found no rule saying how many square meters of difference Indecopi accepts. And it does not refer to the Civil Code’s six-month period. Our reading is that a complaint to Indecopi has its own deadline, which we explain in the home-buying guide. Still, do not let the six months pass: it is the shortest deadline that can catch you.

If the gap is at Sunarp, not in the contract

Sometimes the problem is not what you were handed but what is registered: the area in the property record does not match the physical reality. That is not fixed with a claim against the seller but with an area correction. See correcting the registered area and boundaries of a property.

What this page does not cover

We do not explain how area is measured (built, occupied, open or common area) or what method Indecopi or an expert uses, because we found no rule that sets it for a sale. We did not review Indecopi decisions or court rulings on area differences. We also do not cover buying several properties for one price, hidden defects, or how to complain to Indecopi step by step: for that, see the home-buying guide and how to file a complaint with Indecopi.