Ghaziabad: In a reprieve for tenants and landlords, stamp duty and registration fees for rental agreements have been reduced by the UP cabinet last week. Officials said that this will bring parity with respect to other states where the rates are already lower.Under the revised rates, a one-year agreement for a property with an annual rent of up to Rs 2 lakh will attract Rs 1,000 in stamp duty and another Rs 1,000 as a registration fee. The total cost will therefore be Rs 2,000, against the earlier cumulative charge of Rs 10,000. It will rise to Rs 2,000 for agreements of more than one year and up to five years, and Rs 4,000 for agreements running beyond five years and up to 10 years.For properties with annual rent between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 6 lakh, the corresponding stamp duty will be Rs 3,000, Rs 6,000 and Rs 8,000. Similarly, for annual rent between Rs 6 lakh and Rs 10 lakh, the rates will be Rs 4,500, Rs 10,000 and Rs 13,000. The cabinet on Sept 15 also approved a proposal to keep the registration fee equal to the stamp duty under each slab.“We are yet to receive a govt order. But stamp duty and registration fees for lease and rent agreements have been significantly cut down by the cabinet. As of now, we charge 1% of annual rental value as registration fee and 2% of annual rental value as stamp duty and 4% on developed land which is under municipal limits,” Prem Pratap Singh, AIG (stamp and registration), said.In UP, rent and lease agreements come under Section 4 of the Uttar Pradesh Regulation of Urban Premises Tenancy Act, 2021, which states that no person can let or take premises on rent except through a written agreement. It adds that a landlord and tenant must jointly inform the Rent Authority in the prescribed form, generally within two months. It, however, exempts residential tenancies of less than 12 months from informing the Rent Authority.A registered agreement provides a formal record of the rent, tenure and other conditions agreed between the landlord and tenant, which can be useful if a dispute arises.“The rationale behind lowering the rates is to encourage more people to register their rental agreements. Earlier, it was seen that most people opt for relatively inexpensive notarial arrangements instead of registering their agreements due to high rates,” Noida Bar Association patron PPS Nagar said.
