The real estate sector has been facing a slowdown for the past
few years which has been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic,
leading to sales being plummeted and construction workers
abandoning project sites in hordes. In a move to revive the
sluggish sector, the government of Maharashtra has announced a cut
in Stamp Duty and other levies for buying and selling of properties
in urban and rural areas. The reduction has been in two slabs
– the duty will be lowered from the existing 5% to 2% for
three months from September to December 2020 and thereafter to 3%
between January 1 and March 31, 2021.
Stamp duty is levied by the States and is charged while
registering a document with the State Registrar, which is generally
a transaction document agreed upon by two or more parties. In most
of the cases, it is a fixed percentage of the agreed value as
mentioned in the agreement. Additionally, 1% of the property value
has to be paid as the registration fee. This
