CREDAI, realtors say doubling registration fee will dampen resurging public mood after pandemic

Realtors and Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) have opposed the State government’s move to double the registration fee for property transactions from 1% of the guidance value to 2%, effective from August 31. They have argued that hiking fees is not the answer to make up for the revenue shortfall and said this would only dampen the slowly resurging public mood in the city’s realty market after the pandemic. 

“We are slowly recovering from the slump we suffered in the pandemic. But insistence on e-Khata has created a bottleneck, leading to a fall in the number of property transactions. There is already a negative sentiment in the market about traffic jams and infrastructural woes in the city, a perception we are battling to attract investors. Hiking registration fee may push investors to look at other destinations,” said Suresh Hari of CREDAI, Karnataka, adding they will petition the State government to roll back the hike. 

The Department of Stamps and Registrations has argued that even after the hike, the fee payable for property transactions, now pegged at 7.6% of the guidance value, is comparable to and lower than in States in South India. Data shows that while it is 7.5% in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, it is 10% in Kerala and 9% in Tamil Nadu. In a statement issued by the Department on Saturday, it termed the hike in registration fee “rationalisation”. 

However, Mr. Suresh Hari countered this arguing that the guidance value for properties is among the highest in Bengaluru compared to other markets in South India. 

“Given that stamps and registration are one of the few avenues left for the state government to raise resources to suit its needs, following the implementation of the Goods and Services Taxes (GST), pressure on the sector has gone up across states and likewise in Karnataka as well,” K.R. Ramesh, a property consultant and builder said.

The realty market has been facing a slump for multiple quarters now in the State, evident in how the Department of Stamps and Registrations has missed multiple revenue targets. As against a revenue target of ₹26,000 crore for 2024-25, the Department collected only ₹22,500 crore, and in the first quarter of 2025-26, for which the target is an ambitious ₹28,000 crore, collections have fallen short by 35%. 

Complaints of registrations held up

A few realtors also complained that registrations were “blocked” on Saturday, the last day before the hiked fees kicked in from Sunday. “Many of those who tried to book slots, whose properties were to be registered on Saturday faced hurdles and the ready answer given was the server of Kaveri 2.0 portal being down,” said Mr. Ramesh. 

However, Mullai Muhilan M.P., Inspector General of Registration and Commissioner of Stamps (IGR&CS), said while registrations of properties scheduled for Saturday were allowed to happen without any changes, those trying to pay the registration fee on Saturday for a later slot when the new fees would have kicked in were stopped. 

In a statement issued on Saturday, the Department of Stamps and Registrations has said those who have already booked slots for registrations on any day starting from August 31 but have already paid the fees, “are required to pay the difference amount through the official portal. The payment must be made using the same login credentials used earlier. To assist applicants, an SMS notification with the necessary instructions will be sent directly to their registered mobile numbers”, and for “documents that have already been submitted and are under verification, the registration fee will be recalculated and charged at the revised rate of 2%”.

There are over 850 such property transactions, sources said.