The Karnataka government has doubled property registration fees under the Registration Act, 1908, with the revised rates coming into effect from August 31. A notification issued by the Revenue Department has stated that the fee for every ₹1,000 or part thereof will rise from ₹10 to ₹20, effectively increasing the overall registration charge from 1% to 2%.

The order was issued by S R Shivashankar, Deputy Secretary to Government, Revenue Department (Disaster Management, Stamps and Registration).

This move, aimed at boosting state revenues by an estimated ₹3,000 crore by March 2026, has drawn criticism from real estate experts and citizens alike.

The notification was made public on August 30. Interestingly, various sub-registrar offices in the state had shut operations from Friday 4 pm citing maintenance works. Services in most of the sub-registrar offices resumed from 4 pm on Saturday.

Sources in the stamps and registration offices said: “We had stopped registration of properties as revisions as per notifications were to be made on servers. The services were resumed from Saturday 4 pm onwards. But the number of people who came was less as many were under the assumption that the offices close on Saturday afternoon.”

Another sub-registrar said there was a debate among the officials whether to shut operations or not as it was equivalent of denying the right to people. “However, at many places services were hindered and so property registrations saw a lull since Friday evening till Saturday evening,” the official said.

Citing an example, Manandi Suresh, a real estate expert from FKCCI said: “The registration cost of property depends on guidance value and market value. A flat in most places in Bengaluru costs Rs one crore, then the registration cost which was Rs 1 lakh will now increase to Rs 2 lakh.” He added that lease/ rental agreements, advance registration charges and even bank registration charges will also increase from 1% to 2%.

With this the state government is looking to earn additional revenue of around Rs 3,000 crore, from August 31 to March 31, 2026, said Munish Moudgil, Principal Secretary, Revenue Department. 

Munish Moudgil said this was done as the registration fee in Karnataka is lower than that of other states. It is 2% in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Telangana (rural). The overall registration cost in Karnataka is also less. It is 6.65% in Karnataka while in Tamil Nadu it is 9%, Kerala 10% and 7.5% in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Mullai Muhilan MP, Inspector General of Registration and Commissioner of Stamps and Registration, said, “The last revision in registration fee was done in 2013, when it was reduced from 2% to 1%. Now it has been brought back to its old rates and the other slabs have not been changed.” However, experts, property owners and citizens have criticised the decision of the state government and said that this is exposing the financial situation of the government.