Revised stamp duty for rent agreements: A new era of disputes to begin

Jaipur: Taking a place on rent has always been an amicable business in Jaipur and across Rajasthan, but it may soon change with the latest amendments by the Rajasthan government in stamp duty rates for rental agreements and lease deeds.

The government has decided to charge on the basis of the property’s  value and the length of the agreement period. So more is the length of the agreement period and the property’s value, more stamp duty will you need to pay.

Read Also: Rental Agreement in Jaipur: How much stamp duty do you pay?

But the question is who will pay the stamp duty charges – the landlord or the tenant?

The maximum amount that people had to shell out earlier was Rs 500-Rs 600, but now they will be charged anywhere between 0.1 percent and 5 percent of the property’s value, depending on the length of the agreement period.

“For a property valued at Rs 40 lakh that is to be rented for, let’s say, 10 years, the stamp duty will be Rs 40,000. Add to this 20 percent of the stamp duty as registration fee and another 20 percent as surcharge, the total cost goes up to Rs 56,000,” said lawyer Amish Tripathi.

While most rental agreements for residential properties are for one year, the length of a rental agreement for a commercial property is usually much longer.

“Earlier it was easy to agree on who will pay the stamp duty for a rent agreement, but now landlords and tenants will fight over this, making it harder for people to rent a place,” said the lawyer.

It has also come as a setback for renters in Jaipur as runaway property prices have already priced them out of the housing markets. Now they may need to pay more to rent a property because in most cases, landlords will ask tenants to bear stamp duty.