Buying a house? You will have to pay more stamp duty

There seems to be no relief for homebuyers. The state budget presented on Monday further made flats costlier by levying a flat 5% stamp duty on all purchases made in the city.

There seems to be no relief for homebuyers. The state budget presented on Monday further made flats costlier by levying a flat 5% stamp duty on all purchases made in the city.

The rebate offered on stamp duty has been removed and the cost per transaction has increased by Rs17,400. “We have rationalised the tax structure in the stamp duty,” said deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.

In the previous structure, a homebuyer would have to pay Rs7,600 for the first rebate slab of Rs5 lakh and then 5% tax for the remaining amount. Now, a for a Rs50 lakh flat, the buyer has to pay Rs2.50 lakh as stamp duty as compared to Rs2,32,600.

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“This is complete injustice for flat buyers,” said advocate Vinod Sampat, a housing activist. “It is unfortunate that the state focuses more on extracting money than easing the burden of the citizens.”

Sunil Mantri, chairman, real estate committee, Indian Merchants’ Chamber, also expressed his disappointment. “We expected the stamp duty to come down as it would sent positive signals to the current depressed market,” he said.

After sales tax, the stamp duty and registration fees is the second highest revenue gainer for the state government. The state plans to gain approximately Rs15,730 crore in revenues from this.