In a bid to prevent chaos and last minute rush to avail a handsome offer of two per cent stamp duty on flat purchases, the state stamp duty registration office has given a leeway of four months for property registration to homebuyers. Meaning, homebuyers can pay the stamp duty fees until December 31, 2020, to avail the two per cent offer. In the next four months (by April), they can register their property anytime, explained Shreedhar Dubey Patil, deputy inspector general of Registration Mumbai.
He further said, "Due to the two per cent stamp duty offer, a lot of people are buying properties, so the counters have some waiting period. Also, many times, too many people are involved in a single property. Some may be out of town. In such cases, it may take some to bring all of them together for the registration process. Therefore, the buyer can just pay the stamp duty fees before or by December 31 and complete the property registrations process later as per their convenience."
The state stamp duty registration office has also issued a notification to create awareness among citizens about the same. Besides, it has also asked all registration offices that if, in a particular office, the workload is more and the scanning of documents is taking time, the said office should be kept open even on holidays to fulfill the obligations.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi government has given two per cent stamp duty until December end. Thereafter, from January 1 to March 31, homebuyers will have to pay three per cent stamp duty fees. Reportedly, due to the reduction in stamp duty and several builders offering zero stamp duty discounts, home buying in Mumbai city and suburbs has seen a sharp increase as compared to the previous year. In November, 2020, total 70,647 properties were registered, while in 2019, it was 60,323.
