Can my landlord raise the rent during a lease in Peru? When an increase is valid

The rent is the one you agreed

The Civil Code defines a lease by its rent. Article 1666 says:

“Por el arrendamiento el arrendador se obliga a ceder temporalmente al arrendatario el uso de un bien por cierta renta convenida.”

(In a lease, the landlord agrees to hand over the use of a property for a time, for an agreed rent.)

Article 1361 says the signed contract binds:

“Los contratos son obligatorios en cuanto se haya expresado en ellos. Se presume que la declaración expresada en el contrato responde a la voluntad común de las partes y quien niegue esa coincidencia debe probarla.”

(Contracts bind as far as they say. What the contract says is presumed to be what both parties wanted, and whoever denies it must prove it.)

Article 1351 adds that a contract is the parties’ agreement to “crear, regular, modificar o extinguir” (create, regulate, change or end) a relationship. None of these articles says in so many words “the landlord cannot raise the rent”. But it follows from them: changing the rent changes the contract, and changing the contract takes both of you. A letter from the landlord announcing an increase is an offer, not something you owe.

The exception is your own lease. If you signed a clause saying the rent rises on a certain date or by a certain amount, that clause is part of what the contract says and it binds you. So start by reading your lease.

Three situations, three answers

Article 1687 says a lease “puede ser de duración determinada o indeterminada” (can be fixed-term or open-ended). What the landlord can do about the rent depends on which one you have.

If your lease has a term and is still running

Article 1699 says a fixed-term lease “concluye al vencimiento del plazo establecido por las partes, sin que sea necesario aviso previo de ninguna de ellas” (ends when the agreed term runs out, with no notice needed from either side). Until that day, the agreed terms apply, rent included. When it ends, both of you are free to negotiate a new lease, at a new rent or not at all.

If the term has ended and you still live there

This is where most confusion sits. Article 1700 says:

“Vencido el plazo del contrato, si el arrendatario permanece en el uso del bien arrendado, no se entiende que hay renovación tácita, sino la continuación del arrendamiento, bajo sus mismas estipulaciones, hasta que el arrendador solicite su devolución, la cual puede pedir en cualquier momento.”

(Once the term ends, if the tenant stays on, the lease is not tacitly renewed. It continues on the same terms until the landlord asks for the property back, which they can do at any time.)

This cuts both ways:

• For you: the lease continues on the same terms. Our reading is that the agreed rent is one of those terms, so the landlord cannot impose a new one on their own.
• For the landlord: they can ask for the property back “en cualquier momento” (at any time), with no reason needed. In practice this gives them a way out: offer you a new lease at a new rent, and if you say no, ask for the property back.

If there was never a term

Article 1690 says an open-ended lease “se reputa por meses u otro período, según se pague la renta” (is treated as running by months or whatever period the rent is paid for). Article 1703 says how it ends:

“Se pone fin a un arrendamiento de duración indeterminada dando aviso judicial o extrajudicial al otro contratante.”

(An open-ended lease is ended by giving the other party judicial or out-of-court notice.)

Article 1703 does not set a number of days of notice. Written notice, ideally a notarial letter (carta notarial), shows when you received it. As above, the landlord cannot change the rent alone, but can end the lease and offer you a new one.

If you are asked to leave and you stay

Article 1704 sets what the landlord can charge while you have not returned the property:

“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.”

(After the term ends or notice is given, if the tenant does not return the property, the landlord can demand it back and charge the agreed penalty or, failing that, an amount equal to the previous period’s rent, until it is returned. Collecting either does not mean the lease continues.)

Two points matter. If you agreed no penalty, the measure is “la renta del período precedente” (the previous period’s rent), not the new rent the landlord wanted. And that payment does not mean you still have a lease. For what comes next, eviction, see eviction and renting in Peru and expedited eviction.

If your lease is a FUA (Decreto Legislativo 1177)

The regulated regime of Decreto Legislativo 1177 has no rent-increase rule either. Its article 9.1 describes the contract this way: the landlord hands over the use of the home “por cierta renta convenida y por un plazo pactado” (for an agreed rent and an agreed term), and if no term was stated, “se presume que éste es de 1 año contado desde la legalización notarial del Formulario respectivo” (it is presumed to be one year from the notarial certification of the form). Article 9.2 says this lease is made in writing “únicamente con el FUA” (only on the Formulario Único de Arrendamiento).

Civil Code article 1413 says “las modificaciones del contrato original deben efectuarse en la forma prescrita para ese contrato” (changes to the original contract must be made in the form required for that contract). Our reading is that if your lease is a FUA, a rent change should be documented with the same formality. A verbal deal can leave you with nothing to show if a notarial eviction follows.

What this page does not cover

We did not review court rulings on rent increases, or whether courts require a minimum notice period under article 1703. We do not cover revising a contract for excessive onerousness, commercial leases, or leases in foreign currency. We did not check whether article 9 of Decreto Legislativo 1177 was amended after 2015. For what to check before you sign, see the general guide to renting an apartment.