TAMILNADU PROPERTY REGISTRATION – CHARGES AND PROCEDURE

You may have bought that new house in Chennai or any other part of Tamil Nadu, and you would have even started living in your dream home, but the procedures and processes will not be over until you complete certain procedures. Having physical ownership of the house still does not make you the owner!

In this article we will explain in detail the procedures and the charges that you need to meet in order to become the absolute owners of the property. There are certain legal procedures and the documents that come with these procedures that would declare your ownership absolutely and these would be obtained by paying stamp duty and registration charges for your particular property in Chennai.

Let us explain these procedures and charges one by one:

Stamp Duty and Property Registration

Stamp Duty is in fact a property tax which is required to be paid fully by the buyer within a specified time. It acts as a legal evidence of your purchase of the said property and is similar to income tax or service tax which is collected by the Government. By paying the stamp duty as well as the property registration charge you can make sure that the property is officially registered in your name (registered in the property owner’s name) and is a very important step in the process. If you, as a buyer, fail to pay the stamp duty or the property registration charges, it will lead to a huge decline in the value of your property and the government will levy huge penalties that you would have to pay.

Bearing this in mind it is important that you complete all procedures and the charges may differ between states and would also depend on various factors such as the market value of the property, whether the property is a commercial property or residential property, and the ownership status (owned by male or female).

Departments Concerned

Every property registration and transfer of property is being conducted and managed by the Registration Department as per the Tamil Nadu Registrations Act. Let us look at these charges and procedures in detail.

Property registration Charges

The Stamp duty is 7% and Registration charges – 4% of the market value prevailing for the particular property. When there is a registration to be done on account of exchange of property there will be a stamp duty of 7% on the market value of the property with higher value and registration fee of 4% of the value of the property with higher value.

Procedure to follow for registering a property in Tamil Nadu

These are the steps to be followed for property registration:

Due Diligence

The buyer must ensure that he performs a complete and thorough due diligence for the property before entering into a sale agreement. Obtaining an encumbrance certificate and also employing the services of a qualified lawyer may be important.

Stamp Paper Purchase

Once you have done the due diligence you should purchase the stamp paper and the value of the stamp paper would depend on the property registration charges which are as below:

Registration Charges and Stamp duty in Chennai

The application fee for getting encumbrance certificate for any 1 survey number is Rs. 1.
Search fee for the first one year is Rs. 30.
After the first year for every additional year the search fee is Rs. 10.
Extra fees in computerized period i.e., from 1987 is Rs. 100.
For getting an encumbrance certificate when there is an urgent requirement for EC in non-computerization period you have to pay double the fee.

• Fees for getting certified copies- Application fee Rs. 1.
• Search fee for first year Rs. 10.
• Computer fees Rs. 100.
• Stamp duty Rs. 20.

In the case of conveyance (sale) or gifting of property, the stamp duty would be 7% of the market value of the property and the registration fee would be 4% of the market value of the property.

In case of exchange of property, the stamp duty would be 7% of the market value of the property with greater value. The registration charges would be 4% of the market value of the property with greater value.

In the case of simple mortgage, the stamp duty would be 1% (on the loan amount) upto a maximum of Rs. 40,000. The registration charge would be 1% on the loan amount upto a maximum of Rs 10,000.

In the case of mortgage with possession, the stamp duty would be 4% on the loan amount and the registration fee would be 1% subject to a maximum of Rs. 2,00,000.
Stamp paper vendors are to sell the stamp paper at the face value of the stamp and the Sub Registrars, Treasuries, Assistant Superintendent of stamps also provide the stamp paper.

Stamp Paper is also made available at Stamp Sales Depot” at 27, Rajaji Salai, Chennai 600001.

Registration of Property

Once the above procedures are completed the property needs to be registered with the Sub-Registrar Office of the jurisdiction where the property is located / acquired. It is important that you ensure that the property is registered as per Registration Act, 1908. Also, please bear in MIND THAT ANY OWNERSHIP CLAIM THAT YOU MAKE OVER THE PROPERTY WILL BE TAKEN TO BE NULL AND VOID IF YOU DO NOT REGISTER THE PROPERTY.

Preparation of the Sale Deed

This sale deed must be prepared by a professional and the below mentioned people can prepare the same:

• Advocates
• Chartered Accountant who has document writing license
• Licensed document writers

Do ensure that you choose a person with proper experience and knowledge for property purchases to ensure there are no errors or mistakes in the sale deed.

THE ACTUAL PROPERTY REGISTRATION

In Tamil Nadu there is a stipulation that the property registration must be completed within 4 months of the execution of the sale deed. If there is any delay in execution of the sale deed it may lead to penalties.
Note: The property registration must be done at the Sub-registrar’s office under the jurisdiction of the District Registrar’s office where the property is located. Otherwise it will be considered null and void.

The Registrar will return the registered documents back to you on the same day or within 3 days.

Here we provide a list of documents that are required for completion of property registration:

• Stamped Signed and duly executed document
• The claimant of the sale document has to appear before the registering officer and sign the sale deed at the time of registering the sale
• There has to be a Patta Transfer application provided along with court fee paid
• PAN card Number
• Patta Passbook
• An ID card to be provided both for the executant as well as the claimant (for all deeds registered)
• An ID card for witnesses if any.

Hope this article is useful and that you are able to follow the procedures without any errors to ensure your property is registered correctly.