Haryana government re-opens registration of independent floors

Planning to own a swanky flat in a Gurgaon high-rise? This is a good time to do so. The Haryana government has recently announced it will re-start the registration process for independent floors, which was stopped five years ago.

By paying a stamp duty of one per cent of the market value of the property through a separate challan, the owner can register his flat. While the extra moolah will help the state government tide over the real estate slump, for the consumer, it's a legal respite.

"Over the past five years people purchased flats through general power of attorney. But general power of attorney doesn't allow the property owner to transfer the flat. To transfer, the property has to be registered in the owner's name. Registration makes a person the permanent, legal owner of a property," said Mayank Chaudhary, a real estate agent from Gurgaon.

And flat owners could not have been happier. "We welcome the decision as we were waiting to register our flat for over three years. And one per cent stamp duty is a nominal charge," said Mukesh Sharma, a Palam Vihar resident.

Real estate experts say that the government re-started the registration process to tap the revenue it was losing for the last five years. "Despite the government ban on floor-wise registration in 2003, many high-rise buildings were built in the last five years and these were in huge demand. Seeing this, the government finally decided to re-start the registration process," said Chaudhary.

The commitment of the state government can be easily understood from the seriousness of the state's Finance Minister Birender Singh, who directed to carry out expeditiously any changes required in the rules of Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) to make the above decision legal. "The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda," said Birender Singh.