What is the process for registering the transfer of an immovable property?

Property or land registration in India involves¹:

• paying stamp duty and the registration fee for sale deed, and
• having the documents legally recorded with the sub-registrar of the area where the property is located. At the time of registration, the authorised signatories of the seller and the purchaser have to be present along with two witnesses.

Stamp duty varies depending on the area where the property is located. For eg: In Mumbai, the stamp duty is 5% of the total property value, which includes 1% metro cess². Usually, the seller is responsible for registration of the transfer of immovable property, and the purchaser is responsible for the payment of stamp duty.

Today, most states have their own web portals for property registration and the payment of stamp and registration fee. It does however require the buyer to physically visit the office of the sub-registrar with the documents, once the online process is completed.  Also, the user-friendliness and the number of services one can seek from these portals varies from state to state. For eg: the Delhi government has multiple portals that an individual would have to go through to complete the registration process, but there are plans to introduce a single window portal soon³.

1. Section 17 of the Registration Act, 1908[↩]
2. https://housing.com/news/maharashtra-stamp-act-an-overview-on-stamp-duty-on-immovable-property/[↩]
3. https://housing.com/news/property-registration-online-in-delhi/[↩]