Sale Deed Agreement Registration in Agra

MS Legal Associates:

Sale Deed Meaning

A sale deed is a legal document that contains details of transfer of property ownership from a seller to a buyer. This is one of the most valuable legal documents while purchasing or selling a property. This document needs to be registered mandatorily and is governed by the Registration Act.

Draft Sale Deed

A draft Sale Deed, containing full details of the parties, advance amount paid, mode of balance amount payable, receipt of the balance amount by the seller, handing over the original documents of the property, handing over the possession of the property, handing over the authorization letter to transfer power and water meters, signing of the application for transfer of Khatha, title of the seller of the property, indemnifying the purchaser in case of defect in the title, easement rights, will be prepared by the purchaser's advocate. Such draft Sale Deed should be captioned as draft Sale Deed and shall be signed by the purchaser's advocate.

A copy of the draft Sale Deed will be given to the seller for his approval. The seller and his advocate will verify the draft sale deed and approve it or may suggest suitable deletions, additions or amendments. The purpose is to bring forth the correct intention of the parties to the Sale Deed.

On approval of the draft Sale Deed, the same has to be prepared on a quality or a document paper. In Karnataka it may be prepared on good quality paper like bond paper or green paper and the stamp duty may be paid by way of demand draft or pay order or cash. The exact amount of stamp duty should be ascertained from the Sub Registrar office. Purchaser is liable to pay the Stamp duty as per value stated in the documents or as per the Sub- Registrar office value whichever is higher.

Sale Deed vs. Title Deed

A sale deed is a legal document that transfers the ownership of the property from the seller to the buyer, during a sale. When a property is sold, the sale deed confers title to the buyer.
A title deed is a legal document that can also be used to transfer the ownership of a property from one person to another in instances such as a gift, exchange, mortgage, etc. A title deed is useful when a person does not want to sell a property, but may want to add another person to the title. A title deed generally includes a description of the property that is being sold and the name of the person who legally owns the property. It can also have names of multiple owners.

Agreement of Sale

An agreement of sale is a contractual agreement between the seller and the buyer before the actual sale takes place. It usually contains details about the terms and conditions of sale of a property. This document also includes the amount at which the property is to be sold, often known as sale consideration, and the future date of full payment.

Both the seller and the buyer must understand the terms and conditions listed in the agreement of sale and comply with them throughout the sale process. This enables the process of sale to go through without any obstacles. The agreement of sale is signed before the sale deed is executed and the sale deed is drafted based on the agreement of sale.

If I am a buyer, what precautions must I take before signing the Sale Deed?

1. Make sure No Encumbrances exist on the property. If any outstanding Encumbrances exist (for example, any Bank Loans that have not been cleared), then the Seller's must take care of these before the purchase.
2. Make sure all taxes, cess, electricity and water charges have already been paid by the Seller.

PREPARATION OF SALE DEED

It is a life time ambition of every individual to have a shelter over head. This ambition was achievable in the past only by a very few people in view of financial and other constraints. Due to technological development and social changes with higher purchasing power, nowadays, people could own house and house sites with much ease.

A person may own an immovable property by way of acquisition, succession, transfer or assignment. One of the modes of transfer of immovable property is by way sale and the execution of Sale Deed results in the transfer of right, title, interest and ownership in the property transferred in favour of the Purchaser. Transfer of immovable property in India is governed by the provisions of Transfer of Property Act, 1882.

Sale:

Explicit and voluntary intention to transfer the ownership of the property by the Seller to the Purchaser for consideration is the essence of a valid sale. Section 54 of the Transfer of Property Act 1882 deals with the concept of Sale; Sale is defined as a transfer of ownership of the transferor in favour of transferee in exchange for a price paid or promised to be paid or partly paid and partly promised. The Transferor and the Transferee are also known as Seller and Purchaser respectively. The amount paid in exchange of such transfer by the Purchaser to the Seller is the Sale Consideration. Generally, the entire sale consideration is paid to the transferor at the time of registration of Sale Deed unless there is an agreement between the parties to the contrary. Deferred payment of sale consideration does not arrest passing of the title of the property so transferred from the transferor to the transferee.

Sale Deed:

Sale Deed is also known as Conveyance Deed. This is a document through which the Seller transfers his right, title and interest in a property to the Purchaser, who, in turn, acquires and holds the same as an absolute Owner. Even though it is not necessary or mandatory to enter into a Sale Agreement before entering into a sale transaction, it is advisable to enter into a Sale Agreement wherein the terms and conditions of sale could be minutely stipulated. Generally, a Sale Deed is executed in accordance with the Sale Agreement and upon compliance with the terms and conditions of the Sale Agreement.

Factors to be considered before execution of Sale Deed:

Before execution of a Sale Deed, it is very important to trace the title of the Seller. This can be done by scrutinising the relevant documents of title. Scrutinising the title documents would mean and include tracing the origin of the property, flow of title and the status of the present Owner. It is equally important to obtain and scrutinise the Encumbrance Certificates in order to verify the transactions pertaining to the property intended to be purchased and to know about the existence of any kind of encumbrances or liability over the property. If there is any encumbrance on the property, it shall be the duty of the Seller to discharge the same at his own cost. Similarly, previous charges or mortgages, if any, created on the property are to be cleared before execution of the Sale Deed for transfer of valid and transferable title by the Seller to the Purchaser.

Further, it is also necessary to verify whether all the statutory payments like property tax, water and electricity charges and such other levies on the property have been paid and permission and clearance as are required for Transfer of Property, according to Law, are to be obtained by the Seller.

Recitals in the Sale Deed:

Preparation of Sale Deed is not an easy task. Interests of both the Seller/s and the Purchaser/s are to be protected. Some of the necessary clauses which should find place in the Sale Deed are:
Details of the parties, such as name, residential address, age and name of the father or husband of the parties;
If one of the parties is a minor, name of the Guardian representing him. Generally, the minor is represented by the Natural Guardian.
In case of inanimate bodies such as Firms, Companies, HUFs etc., details of the authorised persons authorised to represent such bodies;
Details regarding as to how the Seller has acquired property and his ownership and title;
Details of advance payment if any made and mode of payment of balance of sale consideration;
Acknowledgement of receipt of advance and the sale consideration by the Seller;
The fact of handing over of original documents of the property along with delivery of possession to the Purchaser.
Indemnifying the Purchaser in case of defect in the title of the Seller.
Authorisation letters issued by the Seller for transfer of water, electricity meters;
Details about execution of General Power of Attorney, if any executed by either of the parties;
Permanent Account Number (PAN) of the Seller and the Purchaser if the sale consideration is more than Rupees Five Lakhs.
If either of the party is not an income tax assessee, then Form No.60 or Form No. 61 in case of Agriculturists, has to be submitted along with the Sale Deed at the time of registration.

Parties to the Sale Deed:

If the Seller has already entered into an Agreement to sell with some person other than the present Purchaser then, such an Agreement requires cancellation and the Agreement Holder has to be made as Confirming party to the sale, thereby confirming the execution of Sale Deed in favour of the present Purchaser since, the Agreement Holder will have right to enforce Agreement of Sale against the Seller for specific performance.
All the necessary parties, who have got right and interest over the property, are to be arrayed as parties. If they are not made as parties, they have to sign the Sale Deed as Consenting Witnesses consenting for the present sale transaction.

Execution:

After the Sale Deed is prepared all the parties to the Deed shall execute it by affixing their full signature. Each page should be signed by all the Sellers. Any alteration, addition or deletion is to be authenticated by full signature of the parties. Execution of the Sale Deed requires to be witnessed by two witnesses. The witnesses shall give their full particulars and addresses.

Attendance of parties before Sub-Registrar:

Sale Deed of immovable property of value more than Rupees One Hundred needs compulsory registration. The duly executed Sale Deed should be presented at the Jurisdictional Sub-Registrar's Office for Registration. All the parties, including the consenting and confirming witnesses shall be present at the time of registration and admit the execution of the Sale Deed. The Purchaser also has to be present at the Sub Registrar's Office at the time of execution of the Sale Deed. In case, the Purchaser is not in a position to be present at the time of registration before the Sub-Registrar, he can depute his Agent with necessary Power of Attorney to be present and sign the documents on his behalf. In Karnataka, photographs of Purchaser and the Vendor and their thumb impressions are taken at the Sub-Registrar's Office and are printed on the Sale Deed. At the time of Registration, there should be two witnesses, who could generally be persons known to the Purchaser, who would sign the Deed as witnesses and another person known to the Vendor, who would identify the Vendor and affix his signature to the Deed.

Time limit for presenting the document:

There is a time limit for presenting the documents for registration. The time limit is four months from the date of execution. Thereafter, a grace period of another four months is allowed on payment of penalty. The maximum penalty is ten times of registration charges.

Disputes regarding Stamp Duty payable:

At times, the Registering Authorities may dispute the quantum of Stamp Duty paid. In such cases, the Purchaser has an option of paying the additional Stamp Duty by way of cash or pay order as demanded by the Registering Authorities or in the alternative he may contest the decision of the registering Authority, in which case the Sub Registrar will keep pending the Registration and refer the matter to the Registrar of Under Valuation for determination of the proper Stamp Duty payable.

Handing over of Original documents:

The Vendor has to make available to the Purchaser all the original documents pertaining to the property. If the property is divided into one or more portions, the Seller has to give certified copy of the documents to the Purchaser while he has to hand over the custody of the original documents to the Purchaser who is purchasing the larger portion of the property and make a declaration to that effect.

Since drafting of Sale Deed requires abundant caution and presence of mind with sufficient knowledge of property and other Allied Laws, it would be better if services of Advocates, who have vast experience in property transactions are utilised to avoid unexpected and uncalled for litigations which may arise in a poorly drafted Sale Deed.

Importance of Sale Deed

Sale deed is an important document for both the buyer and the seller. Through the sale deed, the seller transfers the rights of ownership to the buyer. This enables the buyer to acquire sole ownership of the property. This document provides an ownership proof of the property to the buyer, thus enabling the buyer to carry out further sale.

The sale deed needs to be signed between the seller and the buyer, for purchase or sale of a property, to be legally completed. A property transaction cannot be completed without getting the sale deed signed by both the seller and the buyer. Signing a sale deed implies that both the seller and the buyer accept the terms and conditions defined in the agreement.

Key Information Required in Sale Deed

A sale deed contains most of the information required to carry out a transaction. Some of the details included in a sale deed are listed below:

Full names of the buyer and the seller
Residential addresses of the buyer and the seller
Details of the property such as:
Identification number
Exact location and address
Total area of the property
Details of the construction if it is a building
Date and place of execution of the agreement
Total amount to be paid for the property
Token amount given as advance
Method of payment
Time of payment
Terms and action to be taken if either the buyer or the seller commits fraud
Timeline for all procedures to be completed
Production and inspection of title deeds
Other miscellaneous expenditure and who will bear this expenditure
Date of possession of the property
Date on which the seller would provide the original property related documents to the buyer
Declaration by the seller that the property is not subject to any government acquisition
Declaration by the seller that the property is free from any liabilities such as lease, mortgage, or charge on the property

The sale deed should be registered at a sub-registrar's office in the presence of the seller, the buyer, and witnesses. If a buyer or seller is unable to be present due to unavoidable circumstances, a person nominated by him/her, empowered with power of attorney, can execute the sale deed.

Gift Deed

A gift deed is useful when you want to gift the property to anyone or transfer the ownership of the property without any financial transaction. The gift deed should be registered at the sub-registrar's office. Once the gift deed is registered, the beneficiary becomes the sole owner of the property.

What is the difference between a Sale Deed and a Conveyance Deed?

A "Conveyance Deed" and a Sale Deed are actually the same thing. The term "convey" when used in relation to real estate transactions simply refers to a change in ownership of the property from the Seller to the Buyer.

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