A property sub-registrar’s office is usually associated with a problematic procedure with the buildings often being unkempt and in need of sprucing up, while there are middlemen and touts thronging the premises, and fleecing buyers as well. There are lengthy queues at times, owing to which buyers often have to miss out on other important work. The Maharashtra Government has now implemented online registration for property sale agreements (primary market only) and buyer experiences should improve considerably in the near future as a result.
This unique initiative had started amidst the pandemic and home buyers of all RERA-listed and approved projects can visit the offices of their developers and get their sales agreements registered online. More than 400 developers in the State have already selected this e-registration system so far. Many States provide e-registration for leave and license agreements (for property rentals), although no State offers this facility for the sale of any property.
Developers can get access to the Government’s self-help platform and they can build their logins and apply for e-registering projects through uploading necessary documents. Once they obtain approval, then the home buyer registration may be done accordingly at the office of the developer via the portal. The digital signatures are first integrated into the sale deed before uploading. The stamp duty payment challan and TDS proof are also uploaded accordingly. The buyers’ pictures and thumb impressions are taken thereafter. Upon the process being completed, the home buyers receive their digital certificates.
The e-registration procedure should enable home buyers to skip longer queues and waiting periods. Developers may allocate time slots and enable better management of the entire procedure according to the Chief Business Officer, Data Intelligence and Asset Management, Square Yards, Anand Moorthy. Buyers will not require any witnesses as well for the procedure. They will require digital signatures and Aadhar-based authentication instead.
Buyers can also bypass the payment of money to touts for speeding up the registration procedure, while the Maharashtra State Government will greatly benefit from any loss of revenue. The procedure may completely become digital in coming years and may cover sales in the secondary/resale market as well. Other States are also expected to follow suit and unveil their e-registration facilities for homebuyers.
The new form of registration will not be able to fix the issue regarding one property being sold and registered in the names of multiple people, or even for properties being sold while already being mortgaged to banks however. Anand Moorthy stated that people in India usually feel that after getting the property registered at the sub-registrar’s office, their title rights are completely secure, although as many court cases have proved, it is not the case. Online registration will not solve this problem according to him. The system has to go through further transformation/evolution in order to fix the issue. He also opined that prior to e-registration, buyers should get their lawyers to check the title, making sure that it has not been sold already. It will also make sure that there are no bank obligations/charges for the property. If this works out fine, then one should get an NOC (no objection certificate) from the bank while making sure that the money paid is disbursed into the escrow account of the bank according to him.
For a detailed report on this read the articles we were featured in:
Business Standard – https://bit.ly/3S1TkQA
Published Date: September 14, 2022
