Typical Property Registration Process in India

Author: Sachin Gupta | Find me on Twitter Follow @sach_gupta

Buying or leasing a property requires that one has to go to through the process of registration at district’s Registrars/Sub-registrar’s office. Under Section 28 of the Registration Act, documents relating to immovable property should be registered in the office of Sub-Registrar of sub-district within which the entire or some portion of the property is situated.  Under Section 30(1), a Registrar is empowered to accept a document which can be registered with the Sub-Registrar who is his subordinate.

Any property that is sold, bought or rented, under certain circumstances, requires to be registered inclusive of:

1. A valuable sale or purchase of immovable property.
2. If a property is rented for a period of more than 11 months, then the agreement needs to be registered.

Buyer and seller of a property enter into a sale agreement. This sale agreement typically defines the guidelines and conditions that govern the sale of an immovable property. The sale agreement will also include the details of buyer and seller, property details, location, price, payment structure. Once the sale agreement has been created and signed by both the parties, then this agreement is registered with the registrar according to India’s registration act of 1908.

Once the sale agreement is registered with the registrar, the buyer will also have to pay the applicable stamp duty. Find more about stamp duty and registration charges in various states across India.

Here we present the step by step procedure for registration of property. The procedure remains same whether you buy the property from an individual or from a real estate developer.

Property registration process in india from Green Realtech Projects Pvt. Ltd

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4 modes to pay Stamp Duty and registration fee for your property transactions

There are four modes to pay Non-Judicial Stamp Duty and registration fee for your property transactions. You will have to select the mode of payment on the basis of the amount of stamp duty you are required to pay. The modes of payment are as follows:

1. Franking
2. GRAS
3. ESBTR
4. Stamp Paper

Out of the aforementioned stamp duty modes, franking is useful only when your stamp duty amount is less than Rs. 4,999 (Four Thousand Nine Hundred and Ninety Nine Rupees). If your stamp duty amount is more than that then you look towards other modes.

Franking

Franking is simply a government stamp which is printed on a Paper. You could pay a maximum amount of Rs. 4,999 (Four Thousand Nine Hundred and Ninety Nine Rupees) by franking,

you are required to deposit the stamp duty amount with the bank where franking service is available and get the page of your Agreement/Deed or other pertinent document franked. Please remember that signed documents are not accepted for franking.

GRAS (Government Receipt Accounting System)

To pay through GRAS, your stamp duty amount should be more than Rs. 5,000/- (Five Thousand Rupees). This service is available in selective branches of few banks. Stamp duty amount less than Rs. 50,000/- (Fifty Thousand Rupees) could be paid in cash while more than that amount has to be paid through NEFT or RTGS.

You are required to fill your personal identification and property details on GRAS website and take a print of the filled form. This form is known as challan. Further you are required to submit the challan with the relevant bank authorities and they will do the needful.

There is also a provision to complete the whole process online, if you are well versed with net banking. If you wish to complete your payment online then please select "e-payment" as your payment mode and continue towards payment.

List of Banks where GRAS service is available:

• Andhra Bank
• Bank of India
• Bank of Maharashtra
• IDBI Bank
• Punjab National Bank
• State Bank of India
• State Bank of Hyderabad

ESBTR (Electronic - Secured Bank & Treasury Receipt)

To pay through ESBTR, your stamp duty amount should be more than Rs. 5,000/- (Five Thousand Rupees). This service is available in selective branches of few banks. Stamp duty amount less than Rs. 50,000/- (Fifty Thousand Rupees) could be paid in cash while more than that amount has to be paid through NEFT or RTGS.

You are required to fill your personal identification and property details on the site of selected banks which provide the services. Take the print out of the filled form and submit it to the selected bank branch, the bank authorities will do the needful.

List of Bank links where ESBTR service is available:

• Bank of Maharashtra
• IDBI Bank
• Punjab National Bank

Stamp Paper

Once the most convenient way of paying stamp duty has now been reduced to being a cumbersome process. The new government formalities require that the stamp vendor record every detail about stamp purchaser and the transaction, the details are then mentioned at the back of your stamp paper.

The buying process being time consuming may invoke choicest of curses, however do keep in mind, that it is an attempt by the government to introduce some transparency in the buy/sale process of stamp Papers.

Now a days, some sub registrar offices insist on stamp duty payments by other means, hence make sure to confirm with the registrar's office first before investing in Stamp Papers.

Conclusion: These are the methods of Stamp Duty and Registration Fee Payment. Choose wisely and ensure that you have understood the various modes and processes completely before trying the same. In case you have any doubts and queries regarding the procedures, kindly mail us at nirrtigo@nirrtigo.com and we will do our best to address them. Thank you for reading.

This is a guest post by Sarvesh from Legal Counter