Registering a property

A Sale Deed is a record of all current information relating to a parcel of land, including the names of the current owner, and is the official record of who owns a piece of land.

Once a propoerty sale is agreed , you, your agent or your lawyer must register the Sale Deed in the Registrar of Property of the area. You will have to get the property mutated in the records in your name. Be aware that in most states women have to pay a lesser stamp duty for registration of a property sale deed.

If you are purchasing a house with someone else you will need to consider whether you register your names on the Sale Deed as joint owners, or if you only register the property in your own name. Being joint owners of a property means that you legally own the property together (with either equal or unequal shares) but each party’s share in the property will be recognised as separate. As such, each owner has the ability to sell or transfer their share to a third party, or leave their share of the property to whomever they have identified in their Will. If they do not have a Will, and therefore die intestate, their part of the property is dealt with in accordance with the intestacy laws.

If only one name is registered on the Sale Deed, only one person will be recognised as the owner of the property.