Do you like to deal in property in India while living in the US, UK or any foreign country?

Except agricultural land, plantation property or farm house like immovable property, the non-residents can buy or sell the residential or commercial property. However, an exception is always there. If the NRI gets immovable property through inheritance, he/she can own it.

If you, as an immigrant, want to look for a good option for a long-term investment, real-estate is an excellent option to invest into.

Property Registration-Why?
The selling or buying of a property should be registered with the competent authority. If the property is located in Mumbai or Delhi, you should register it with the Municipal Corporation. This authority maintains a legal record of ownership of the property. The registry is mandatory under the Registration Act. It makes sense when you want to determine the belongings of a specific property.

The Municipal Corporation takes into account every transaction pertaining to the real-estate or commercial land. The owner has to go through multiple steps of the NRI property registration in Mumbai or any other region. It determines the agreement of the buyer and seller of the land/property. The language of the registry could be the regional language or Hindi or English.

Plainly speaking, your transaction in the property won’t be considered lawful unless it is registered. Let’s have a cursory look over how you, including NRIs, could register it in Mumbai.
 

Who is the competent authority that registers the property?

The registrar or sub-registrar is the Municipal Corporation has the competency to sign the licit documents pertaining to the property. He verifies the supporting documents, say, sales deed, identity proof, title deed, PIO/OCI Card and No Objection Certificate (NOC) etc.
Steps of Registering Property in Mumbai for NRIs:
 

Getting Stamp Duty on Important Deeds and Docs:

The Stamp Act of India and the Registration Act mandate stamp duty during registration of the real-estate or commercial premises. It’s a tax levied by the state government on the transaction pertaining to the transfer of ownership of the land/property.

It’s a payable service. Therefore, the NRI or any citizen is required to pay for the stamp duty. Since it’s a subject matter of the state government, its fee and registration charges may vary state by state. If you want to know how much you have to pay, just ask the competent authority about how much percentage in ratios of the total transaction value they charge. Thereby, you can compute the total amount on that transaction.
If you want to save some bucks, you can buy in the name of a woman. In order to promote the ownership of the woman, the government offers rebates to them.

Verifying Identity Proofs:
Present any of these identity proofs and their copy for verification before the sub-registrar or registrar:
1. Driving Licence
2. Passport
3. PAN Card
4. Employee ID
5. Voter ID
6. Address Proof

Paying Registration Fee:
The payment against registration shall be made a few days prior to the registry. As you pay, show the receipt to the sub-registrar a day before the actual registration. This process requires:
1. Visit a nationalized bank.
2. Get a challan/pay slip.
3. Show it to the sub-registrar.

Appointment With the Sub-Registrar:
1. The buyer and the seller of the property shall be present together with the witnesses.
2. The sub-registrar verifies all supporting documents.
3. He puts his official seal on the document and also, affixes the unique numbering block on each paper of the property. It includes additional papers wherein the details of both parties would be scripted along with their photographs & witnesses details.
 

Role of Two Witnesses:

The witnesses would have to come together with their identity and address proofs. Then,
1. The sub-registrar asks them to put down their signature along the buyer and seller in his presence.
2. Take the sale deed to the Registrar.
3. He would sign them and also, affix the unique numbering block.
4. Submit the pay order/ demand draft of bank on the very day when you get the token number.
5. Submit the copy of original documents of the property.
6. Once the pan formality would be completed, the original documents shall be returned to the owner of the property.
 

Checklist of documents to register a property in Mumbai:

1. Adjudication paper: Asset evaluation report with the affixed stamp duty
Note: Get the adjudicated sales deed in a month. Otherwise, you have to pay 2 percent interest every month of the evaluated value. It’s valid until 31st December or six months.

2. Proofs of Old Construction: If your prospective property is in the old premises, you can claim the benefits of depreciation on the market value. It can be obtained by showing Municipal Assessment Bill of the Building, Building Completion Certificate and Original Registered Agreement between the Builder and the Buyer of the flat.

3. NOC: It’s mandatory if your property is covered more than 500 sq. ft. under the Urban Land Ceiling Act.

4. Original Property Papers: They should be copied on just one side of the paper in the black ink. PAN Card

5. Property Card:

6. Sales Deed and Its Copy

7. Identity Proofs

8. PIO or OCI Card