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This article explores the dimensions of informality behind the scenes of Rímac’s local government, a central district of the Peruvian capital, Lima. The municipality’s capacity to oversee urban development is challenged by the magnitude of its problems and constraints, and has therefore developed strategies so as to ensure its own autonomy. The organisation and practices of the local government maneuver between formality and informality in order to access funds and to implement urban policies in the district. The exercise of local power, whether it bypasses or substitutes the normative framework, relies on opportunistic and clientelistic strategies that allow room for maneuver. This results in specific forms of action on the territory and the conservation of power relations.