Property registrations revenue surges by Rs 2,000 crore

CHENNAI: Revenue through property registrations in the state surged during the last financial year, recording an increase by more than Rs 2,000 crores when compared with that of 2016-17. Despite a 33% cut in guideline value, an unprecedent increase in registration fee of 3% pushed the revenue for the registration department to a decadal high. Interestingly, the number of land documents registered in the just concluded fiscal also shot up by about 1.80 lakh.
According to official sources in the registration department, revenue of Rs 9,121.53 crore was generated through property registrations in 2017-18.It is higher by Rs 2,110 crore compared to 2016-17, when the registration department witnessed significant drop ending up at Rs 7,007.74 crore. Number of property documents that were registered in 2016-17 was around 2.02 lakh, which rose to 2.21 lakh in the 2017-18 financial year. Lifting the ban on re-sale of unapproved plots and revising registration fee were the two major contributors to the coffers of the registration department filling up.
“In spite of decrease in guideline value, the increase in registration fee from 1% to 4% helped in getting the revenue. Moreover, allowing re-registration of unapproved plots in 2017 came in handy reflecting on registrations shooting up,” a registration official told TOI. In the wake of demand from the general public that guideline value was exorbitant, the Tamil Nadu government slashed the guideline value by 33%, but effected an increase of registration fee by 3% in June 2017. Subsequently, the office of the inspector general of registration granted permission to sub registrars for re-registering unapproved plots that were registered as ‘house sites’ at least once before October 21, 2016. The state government had notified section 22-A of the Registration (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act to facilitate registration of unauthorised plots lacking permission for development from respective planning authority in the event of an earlier land transaction refers to it as ‘house site’.
Registration department sources said that nearly 99.5% of revenue was realised only through property registrations including sale deed, exchange deed, mortgage deed and deposit of title deeds. The other registrations such as wedding, societies and chits account for the rest of .5% revenue, the sources added. The registration department also introduced online registration of land documents in February 2018, pushing the registration of property documents to the cyber space.