Property registration in India step by step: from agreement to mutation

General information, not legal advice. Procedures, forms and fees differ by state and change. Confirm each step with your lawyer and the state registration department.

What are the steps to register a property in India?

In outline, you check the title, sign an agreement to sell, pay stamp duty and registration charges, register the sale deed at the sub-registrar's office, and then get the property transferred in the municipal or revenue records. The sale is complete in law when the sale deed is registered, and the later steps update the records so the property stands in your name.

Step by step

1. Check the title and approvals before paying a large amount. See how to check the title is clear and the documents checklist.
2. Sign an agreement to sell that records the price, payment schedule, possession date and who bears which cost.
3. Work out and pay stamp duty and registration charges as your state requires, often online. See stamp duty and registration charges.
4. Draft the sale deed with your lawyer. Both sides read it fully before the day.
5. Book a slot at the sub-registrar's office. In many states, this is done online.
6. On the day, the buyer, the seller and the witnesses attend with their original ID and photographs. Details are recorded and the deed is signed, usually with a photograph and fingerprints.
7. Collect the registered deed, or the receipt and the date it will be ready.
8. Apply for mutation or khata transfer so the municipal or revenue records show you as the owner.
9. Update property tax, electricity, water and society records in your name.

What are mutation and khata transfer?

Registration records the sale, but mutation (in many states) or khata transfer (for example in Bengaluru) puts your name in the local authority's records for tax and services. Skipping it can cause problems when you pay property tax, apply for a loan or sell later. For the Bengaluru khata, read A khata and B khata.

What can go wrong?

• Paying most of the price before the title has been checked.
• A seller without full ownership, or with a loan or dispute on the property.
• Under-stating the price to save duty, which is illegal and puts your ownership and loan at risk.
• Not completing mutation, so the old owner still appears in the records.
• Missing the possession terms in the agreement.

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