Testimonio, parte notarial or plain copy: what goes to Sunarp, and is there a deadline to register?

Three copies of the same deed

When you sign an escritura pública, the original (the matriz) stays in the notary’s records. What you receive are copies, which the law calls traslados. Article 82 of D.L. 1049, the Notaries Law, says:

“El notario expedirá, bajo responsabilidad, testimonio, boleta y partes, a quien lo solicite, de los instrumentos públicos notariales que hubiera autorizado en el ejercicio de su función.”

(The notary must issue, on their responsibility, a testimonio, boleta and partes of the deeds they authorized, to whoever asks.)

If you are not yet sure whether your contract needs a public deed, start with minuta vs. escritura pública. This page starts once the deed is signed.

The testimonio and the parte have almost the same content. Article 83 says the testimonio contains “la transcripción íntegra del instrumento público notarial con la fe que da el notario de su identidad con la matriz” (the full transcription, with the notary certifying it matches the original). Article 85, as amended by D.L. 1232 in 2015, says the same of the parte and adds one requirement:

“El parte debe constar en papel notarial de seguridad que incorpore características especiales que eviten la falsificación o alteración de su contenido.”

(The parte must be on notarial security paper with features that prevent forgery or alteration.)

Sunarp does not take the testimonio

The practical difference is in the Seventh Complementary Provision of D.L. 1049. Its last sentence is plain:

“Las oficinas regístrales no admitirán, bajo responsabilidad, la presentación de testimonios o boletas notariales”

(Registry offices will not accept testimonios or notarial boletas.)

Your testimonio proves your contract. To register, the registry needs the parte.

The same provision says who files it: “el notario o […] sus dependientes acreditados ante la SUNARP” (the notary or their staff accredited with Sunarp). The notary can then hand you the registration request so you follow the process yourself. As an exception, “a solicitud y bajo responsabilidad del interesado” (at your request and on your responsibility), someone else can file it, and the notary writes that person’s name and ID number on the parte.

A plain copy starts nothing

The General Regulation of the Public Registries, in the text in force since 1 August 2025, says “no constituye título inscribible las copias simples” (plain copies are not a registrable title, article 7.3). And registrations based on public instruments:

“solo podrán fundarse en traslados o copias certificadas expedidas por el Notario o funcionario autorizado de la institución que conserve en su poder la matriz, salvo disposición en contrario.”

(Can only be based on certified issues or certified copies from the notary or official who holds the original.)

If the main document is a plain copy, article 43-A tells the registrar to reject (tachar) the title within the first five days after filing.

Is there a deadline to take your deed to Sunarp?

In the rules we read, we found no deadline that forces you to register a purchase within a set time. The Civil Code does not say “register within so many days”. What it does is reward whoever registers first. Article 2016 says:

“La prioridad en el tiempo de la inscripción determina la preferencia de los derechos que otorga el registro.”

(Whoever registers first in time has preference for the rights the registry grants.)

That has concrete effects.

• If the seller sells twice. Article 1135 prefers “al acreedor de buena fe cuyo título ha sido primeramente inscrito” (the good-faith buyer whose title was registered first). Only if nobody registered does the earlier-dated title win, and among those, the one with the oldest fecha cierta (a legally certain date). If another good-faith buyer registers before you, the law prefers them.
• Against other property rights. Article 2022 says that to assert your property right over real estate against someone who also has one, your right must be “inscrito con anterioridad” (registered earlier).
• Against someone who relies on the registry. Article 2014, as amended by Ley 30313, protects a third party who acquires in good faith and for value from someone who “en el registro aparece con facultades para otorgarlo” (appears in the registry as entitled to grant it), once they register, even if the seller’s right is later annulled or cancelled for reasons not on the record. If your purchase is not registered, to that third party the owner is still your seller.

None of this makes your purchase invalid. Between you and the seller, the sale stands. The risk is that someone else gets ahead of you.

Once filed, deadlines do run

When the parte reaches Sunarp, a presentation entry (asiento de presentación) is created. Your priority counts from that moment. Principle IX of the Regulation says the effects of registration and the preference of rights “se retrotraen a la fecha y hora del respectivo asiento de presentación” (go back to the date and time of the presentation entry). And while the entry is open, no title that conflicts with yours can be registered (article 26).

But the entry does not last forever. Article 25, in its 2025 text, says:

“25.1 El asiento de presentación tiene vigencia durante treinta y cinco (35) días, a partir de la fecha del ingreso del título, contados conforme a lo dispuesto en el Artículo 4 de este Reglamento. 25.2 Dentro de los siete primeros días el Registrador procederá a la inscripción o formulará las observaciones, tachas y liquidaciones a los títulos.”

(The presentation entry lasts thirty-five days from filing. Within the first seven days the registrar registers the title or issues observations, rejections or fee assessments.)

We did not read article 4, which says how those days are counted. Ask Sunarp whether they are business days.

Extensions. Article 27 allows the entry to be extended “hasta por veinticinco (25) días adicionales” (by up to twenty-five more days). Article 28 extends it automatically in two cases that matter here: if you appeal an observation, rejection or fee assessment, until the appeal deadlines run out; and if you receive an observation or an assessment for additional fees. In that second case, “en ningún caso, el plazo de vigencia del asiento de presentación excederá de sesenta (60) días” (the entry can never last more than sixty days).

If it expires. Article 2 says the procedure ends with registration or with “la caducidad de la vigencia del asiento de presentación” (the expiry of the presentation entry). Your deed is still valid, but you must file it again. Under principle IX, priority would then count from the new filing, not the first one. That last point is our reading; the Regulation does not say it in those words.

Observación and tacha are not the same

• Observación. The registrar finds a defect that can be fixed. You have until the sixth day before the entry expires to cure it.
• Tacha sustantiva. The registrar rejects the title. Among the cases in article 42 are a “defecto insubsanable que afecta la validez del contenido del título” (a defect that cannot be cured and affects validity) and “obstáculos insalvables que emanen de la partida registral” (insurmountable obstacles in the property record).
• Tacha especial. Article 43-A covers, among other cases, a title filed as a plain copy or “con formalidad distinta a la prevista para su inscripción” (in a form other than the one required). This rejection comes within the first five days.

You can appeal both: article 28 refers to the “recurso de apelación contra las observaciones, tachas y liquidaciones” (appeal against observations, rejections and fee assessments). If the defect is in the deed itself, you may need to go back to the notary.

If you want to check who appears as owner before you buy, see Sunarp copia literal and registry certificates.

What this page does not cover

We do not cover registry fees or what notaries charge for partes, the deadlines for appealing to the Tribunal Registral, preventive annotations, or electronic filing through the SID-Sunarp system. We did not read article 4 of the Regulation, nor check whether articles 26 and 27 and principle IX changed between 2012 and 2025. We did not review court rulings on double sales or Tribunal Registral decisions.