Why registration of immovable property is important?

A person is considered lawful owner of a property only after s/he gets it registered in his / her name. Section 17 of the Indian Registration Act 1908 makes it mandatory to register the document regarding transfer, sale, gift or lease of a property.

Registration of the sale deed by which the right, title and interest in a property is transferred from seller to the buyer, must be done for legitimate transition of the ownership of the property.

The Apex Court has ruled that transfer of all right, title and interest in a property would be considered invalid unless the sale deed was duly stamped and registered. Under Section 49 of the Indian Registration Act, 1908 sale deed will not have any bearing on the property and will not confer any “right to the property” if it is not registered. Further, section 23 of the same Act states that “Document of Title” must be registered within four months of execution.

However, if due to unavoidable reasons the desired registration cannot be done within the stipulated period of four months, then the buyer can request the District Registrar, for extension of another 4 months by paying a penalty of up to 10 times of the registration fee.

Usually the penalty levied is 100-300% of the registration fee. This extension of time limit for registration of “Document of Title” with penalty is allowed under Section 34 of the Indian Registration Act, 1908.

Sale deed is the only “document of title to a property” and must be prepared very carefully. Any discrepancy and / or error in the sale deed may have very serious repercussions both for the buyer and the seller. It may lead to legal tussle between the seller and the buyer or by their respective legal heirs.However, if there is any genuine and inadvertent but grave error in the sale deed then legally prescribed process is there for rectification of such error(s).